The Brightest Star
by LyraBlack0714
Summary: Join Lyra in her first year at Hogwarts, where she discovers friendship and magic, while trying to uncover the mystery of her past.
1. Chapter 1

The last few rays of sunlight felt good on Lyra's skin. She was laying down outside by her favorite willow tree so that she could avoid Mrs. Winters. The uptight orphanage headmistress made Lyra feel distinctly uncomfortable in a way she couldn't really define. The other orphans liked Lyra well enough-she was even close to a couple of them-but for some reason Lyra never felt like she truly belonged at the orphanage.

Lyra Black had been at St. Anne's Orphanage for as long as she could remember - ten years to be exact. She was left there when she was a year old, by a woman that was presumably her mother, with nothing but a strange locket and a note that contained Lyra's name and an unfulfilled promise that her mother would come back for her soon. The years passed, and no one came looking for their daughter.

Lyra gave up hope that someone would come for her, although sometimes she had daydreams about being reunited with the parents she never met. She was always mad at herself after she did that; there was no need to give herself false hope, she reasoned.

"BLACK!"

Lyra groaned and sat up, rubbing her eyes. She decided that she did not want to get on Mrs. Winters' bad side today, so she reluctantly went inside to see what Mrs. Winters wanted this time.

As soon as Lyra saw the headmistress' expression, she knew something strange was going on. Mrs. Winters had a look of nervous confusion on her face.

"Lyra dear-"

-Something was definitely wrong. Mrs. Winters never referred to Lyra as "dear"-

"-you have a visitor."

What? A visitor? Lyra could barely contain her excitement. What if this was her mother, finally coming back for her!

Mrs. Winters beckoned Lyra into her stuffy little office. Lyra was familiar with it. She was in here at least once every week it seemed, being scolded for something or other.

As Lyra made her way inside the office, she immediately saw that the visitor was a man, and felt her hopes for her mother's return deflate once again. The man that Lyra could only describe as "eccentric", introduced himself as Professor Albus Dumbledore. Lyra could only gape at his long, blue dress-like attire, shockingly white beard, and long pointy hat.

"Perhaps I could talk to Miss Black somewhere a bit more private?" suggested the so-called Professor, pointedly towards Mrs. Winters.

Mrs. Winters recovered in time to reply, "Oh! Yes, well, how about here in my office? I need to check on poor little Brianna..." She seemed to still be a little out of it as she left the office, but managed to whisper a sharp "Behave!" to Lyra before she left to check on her roommate, Brianna, who had been suffering from the flu the past few days.

Brianna was the closest person Lyra could call a friend at the orphanage. They looked out for each other, and spent many hours trash-talking the headmistress whenever she was being particularly nasty. Lyra had stayed up with Brianna most of the night for the past two nights. She was like a little sister to Lyra.

Dumbledore was currently sitting behind Mrs. Winters desk, observing Lyra over his half-moon glasses in a way that made Lyra think he could see right through her.

"I'm sure you are wondering who I am, and why I am here." Dumbledore stated.

Lyra didn't know how to respond to that, so she just sat there expectantly.

"I am Professor Albus Dumbledore," he repeated, "and I am the headmaster of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry."

Lyra couldn't help it. She burst out laughing at this ridiculous declaration.

"Witchcraft-I think-you might be mistaken...Professor," she said amidst giggles.

Dumbledore simply smiled at her, and asked her a question that put an immediate end to her snickering.

"Have you ever done anything, Lyra? Anything you couldn't explain?"

Lyra thought back to when she was six. One of her friends at the time, Brandon, had scraped his knee while playing outside. Lyra felt bad for him, but she really just wanted him to stop crying so that they could keep playing. A moment later, the scrape was completely healed! Naturally, Mrs. Winters didn't believe them when they told her what happened, just dismissing it as their overactive imaginations. Two years after that, Lyra had been out exploring beyond the orphanage with Brianna when a suspicious-looking group of men started to follow them. Then one of them pulled out a knife, and took aim for Brianna. Lyra stepped in front of her friend and threw the man backwards without touching him. She had no idea how she did it; she just remembered the feeling of fierce protectiveness and fear. Then all the the man's companions scattered and they were able to get back safely to the orphanage.

Lyra looked back towards Dumbledore with a sheepish look, and he gave her a knowing smile in return.

Professor Dumbledore proceeded to tell her all about Hogwarts and the magical world. Lyra could hardly believe that this whole other world existed! When Dumbledore reached the part about buying supplies at a place that sounded like "Diagonal Alley", Lyra became nervous. How was she going to buy any supplies? She had no money!

"Ah yes, well you don't need to worry about money," said Dumbledore, noticing her worried look. "You see, your mother came from a very wealthy family," Dumbledore informed her. He was looking a bit uneasy, but Lyra missed it in her excitement.

"You know who my parents are?" she exclaimed excitedly, "Are they still alive? Why did they leave me here? Did they not want me?" Lyra asked with trepidation.

"I know who your mother is," Dumbledore replied reluctantly.

Lyra waited with baited breath.

Dumbledore sighed and continued, "She is a witch by the name of Bellatrix Black. She was married for a few years to a man named Rodolphus Lestrange, but they divorced before you were born. That is why she went back to using her maiden name, Black."

"Why did they divorce?" asked Lyra.

"I am not sure, but it is safe to guess that you are not Rodolphus's daughter. You need to understand that your mother was not, well...she made a lot of poor decisions that hurt a lot of people. She went down a path that ultimately caused her much pain. She gave up her daughter and her freedom for a man who was not even capable of returning the love and loyalty she gave him."

Lyra was disappointed and a little confused at this.

"Why did she do that? Who is this man that she gave me up for?"

"He went by the title, Lord Voldemort. Most people are too afraid to use that name, and simply call him 'You-Know-Who' ".

Dumbledore explained to Lyra all about the war that had been occurring in the wizarding world when she was a baby. She couldn't believe one man could cause so much fear and devastation!

"You must remember, Lyra, that like in the muggle world, wizards can go bad too. It is the decisions we make that define who we really are."

Lyra still had a lot of questions for the Professor, but she reasoned that there would be other opportunities to ask him. She bade goodbye to Professor Dumbledore, and he promised to accompany her to get her supplies the following week.

Lyra couldn't wait to tell Brianna everything that happened today! She quickly ran up to their room on the top floor of the orphanage. She loved their room, because it afforded a beautiful view of the entire town of Hangleton. She sometimes sat by the window, gazing at the beautiful orchards that surrounded the town whenever she was bored. She could even see a glimpse of the neighboring village of Little Hangleton from their window.

Lyra pushed open the door and immediately noticed how sick her best friend looked.

Brianna was trying to convince Mrs. Winters that she was really feeling better, and didn't need a doctor.

Lyra, knowing how fearful Brianna was of doctors, only sighed at her roommate's stubbornness.

"Come on, Ly!" Brianna pleaded when she caught sight of Lyra in the doorway. "Tell her I don't need a doctor!"

Lyra walked over and put a hand on Brianna's forehead.

"You're burning up, Bri. I know how you feel about doctors, but I'm worried about you."

Lyra smiled sadly down at her friend, who had seemed to have resigned to the fact that she would need to see a doctor the following day. Mrs. Winters left to make the appointment, and Brianna quickly fell asleep.

Lyra gazed out the window towards the orchards, trying to come to terms with all that had happened that day. She was a witch, and she would soon be leaving her best friend and the only place she had ever known for nine whole months. Lyra closed her eyes and despite all the questions she still had, fell asleep with a feeling that things were about to irreversibly change for better or worse.


	2. Chapter 2

Lyra woke up to the sun was shining brightly in her eyes.

"Wake up, sleepyhead!" exclaimed Brianna.

Lyra was glad to see that the color had returned to her face. Brianna looked much better after the doctor took a look at her last week.

It was hard for Lyra to believe that it had been a whole week since she had learned that she was a witch. She was coming to terms with it, and was beginning to get more excited about Hogwarts.

Brianna had been really supportive. Of course, Lyra wasn't allowed to tell her anything about magic, but Brianna was just as happy for her to have the chance to go to a far away school "for the gifted". After all, it had always been their dream to somehow leave St. Anne's behind. Lyra had worried about Brianna's reaction to being left alone at the orphanage, but she seemed okay with it. Brianna was an exceptionally selfless person, and for that, Lyra was grateful.

"We're not all morning people like you, Bri," she replied groggily.

"Then don't complain to me about being hungry because you missed breakfast!"

Lyra took her time getting ready. Today was the day she would be going to get her school supplies with Professor Dumbledore. It made her wonder why the school's headmaster would take the time to escort young witches to get their supplies instead of having someone else do it, but then again nothing was normal about Professor Dumbledore.

After breakfast, Lyra said goodbye to Brianna, and made her way to Mrs. Winters' office. Dumbledore was already waiting for her, and gave her that same piercing gaze as last week, but with a more sincere smile.

"Hello, Miss Black. I will be taking you to Diagon Alley via side-along apparition," he said.

Lyra had no earthly idea what 'side-along apparition' was.

Dumbledore simply gave her a little smile and warned her to not hold her breath. He held out his arm, which she took with a little bit of apprehension.

Lyra did not like side-along apparition, she decided. She did not like it at all. It felt as though her entire body was being squeezed into a tiny little tube that was much too small.

When it was finally over, she was standing in the middle of a busy, cobblestone street filled with bright colors and loud noises. Dumbledore gave her an approving nod.

"Most people vomit the first time. I'm quite impressed," he said with a chuckle.

He first led her to the wizarding bank, Gringotts. She did not care for goblins much, and they did not seem to like her much either. The security measures they put her through took forever, even though Dumbledore already had her key. Finally, they arrived at a large vault that her mother had apparently set aside for her when she was born. She grabbed a couple handfuls of the big gold coins and they returned to the bank's entrance.

Lyra had never had much money before, so she went a little crazy when faced with the prospect of being able to spend all those gold coins. Dumbledore had to stop her from buying robes made out of pure gold, citing the supply list that stated she was to but solid black. She settled for a nice embroidery in silver.

Soon, all that was left for them to buy was her wand. They made their way to Ollivander's and stepped in to the old shop. Lyra could see shelves full of long, dusty boxes. It took her a minute to notice the old man peering curiously at her from behind the counter.

"I've been wondering when I would be seeing you here, Miss...Black," he said, hesitating before her last name. Lyra gave him a curious look, but before she could say anything, a ruler started flitting around her taking measurements.

Dumbledore cleared his throat, and Lyra noticed him giving an indefinable look to Mr. Ollivander, who quickly started explaining to her about the different types of wood and cores that could be used in a wand. The ruler was measuring the distance between her fingers when Ollivander snatched it away.

They must have gone through dozens of wands. About halfway through, Professor Dumbledore excused himself, giving Ollivander another look, to go find some supplies he needed...or something. Lyra had just exploded another shelf, missing the mumbled explanation. After what seemed like hours, Ollivander warily handed her an even dustier box. Lyra pulled out the wand, expecting another explosion, but instead felt a rush of power up her arm, and an extremely warm feeling.

She expected Ollivander to sigh in relief, but he was instead giving her a calculated look.

"That is not a wand I expected to sell," he explained to her, "it is made of yew and thestral hair. A very unusual combination, and not a core I would usually recommend. However, it seems it has picked you."

Lyra paid for the wand and left the shop, feeling uneasy but excited. She had a wand! She really was a witch after all!

Just as Lyra began looking for Dumbledore, he appeared behind her carrying a beautiful, black owl.

"Happy Birthday, Miss Black," he said.

"But-sir, you didn't have to-my birthday was months ago-"

"I know I didn't have to," he interrupted, "but I like to give all students that grow up in muggle homes something to welcome them to the magical world. Besides, owls are extremely intelligent and useful pets."

Lyra smiled uncomfortably at the professor. She still had a few misgivings about the headmaster, and she didn't think he was being entirely truthful about giving something to every student that came from muggle homes. That would get expensive! So why was he giving her special attention? She decided to continue to think on it later.

Professor Dumbledore took her back to the orphanage, and she returned to her room after thanking him again for the owl.

Brianna was sitting near the window, reading a book, when Lyra walked in.

"How did it go-" Brianna caught sight of the owl that Lyra was carrying and gasped.

"Is that an owl?" she exclaimed.

"Yes," said Lyra, smiling, "but she doesn't have a name yet. Would you like to name her?"

"Alright...but why exactly do you need an owl at a boarding school?" she asked.

"To send letters to you!" Lyra said.

"What, are we reverting back to the eighteenth century or something?" Brianna said. However, she soon got used to the owl's presence and eventually suggested Lucinda, another star, as the owl's name.

Brianna and Lyra stayed up talking most of the night. They wouldn't admit it, but they were both worried about the next day. For Lyra, it was the prospect of facing a whole new school, with new people, and new expectations. For Brianna, it was the prospect of remaining at the orphanage alone, while her best friend went off on a grand adventure for the next nine months. The hours raced by and finally Mrs. Winters came in to order them to go to sleep.

* * *

The next morning was confusing and stressful for Lyra. First, she had to figure out how to fit her huge trunk and owl cage into Mrs. Winters' tiny car.

Mrs. Winters was being surprisingly pleasant that morning-probably looking forward to the prospect of Lyra being far away for the next nine months.

Then, once they arrived at King's Cross, Mrs. Winters gave her a derisive smile, told her 'good luck', and left. So now, she's in the middle of a crowded train station, with absolutely no clue as to where the Hogwarts train was. Her ticket said Platform 9 3/4, but she soon discovered there was no such thing. She wearily collapsed against the barrier between platforms 9 and 10, and was rudely surprised when she fell right through it.

"Ouch!" she said, landing in a twisted mess with Lucinda squawking like crazy beside her.

"Do you need some help, there?" Two voices rang out.

She was hauled up by two identical looking boys with red hair. They introduced themselves as Fred and George Weasley. Blushing with embarrassment, she hastily thanked them and hopped on the train. She was hoping to find a compartment by herself.

Lyra found an empty compartment near the end of the train. She put Lucinda and her trunk on the luggage rack, and collapsed on the seat in exhaustion. She closed her eyes and reflected wearily on everything that had happened. The twin boys were nice to help her up, but she was still nervous about going to Hogwarts. She didn't know anyone, and she missed Brianna already. She knew nothing about magic.

Just as Lyra was beginning to think this was all one big mistake, the door to her compartment opened, and a small boy with messy black hair peeked in at her.

"D-do you mind if I sit here?" he asked, nervously.

"No, of course not," she gave him a small smile and he sat down across from her. They introduced themselves, and an awkward silence ensued.

"So, are your parents magical?" the boy asked her. It was an innocent question, but Lyra didn't know how to explain to this stranger that her mother's evil, she didn't know who her father was, and that she grew up in an orphanage not knowing anything about magic.

She was saved from answering by the arrival of another boy with red hair, and a smudge of dirt on his nose. He asked if he could sit with them, and the boy-Harry, she remembered-said he could. The red head introduced himself as Ron Weasley. The two boys started talking so Lyra occupied herself by watching the countryside go by.

The train ride was fairly eventful. First, Harry bought a load of sweets that he shared with Ron and Lyra. Then, a nasty boy named Draco Malfoy came in and tried to stir up trouble. He asked for Lyra's name, but at that point Scabbers had latched himself onto Goyle's finger, and the boys quickly left their compartment.

Lyra left the compartment when a girl with bushy hair informed them that they would be arriving soon. She changed into her robes, and disembarked from the train. She found Ron and Harry again, and, together, they made their way to a large man that Harry seemed to know already.

Lyra was in the same boat as Harry and Ron, and they quickly arrived at Hogwarts. Lyra couldn't help gasping at the sight of the castle. Immediately, she felt as though it had not been a mistake coming here. Hogwarts felt like home to her already. She looked over and noticed that Harry had the same expression of awe on his face.

* * *

"Abbott, Hannah"

The sorting had just begun, and Lyra was feeling nauseous. Professor McGonagall had explained the process, but Lyra couldn't see how a _hat_ would know which house they belonged in.

"Black, Lyra"

_Oh no_, thought Lyra. She stumbled artlessly up to the stool. Her thoughts were so preoccupied, she didn't notice the whispering that broke out after her name was called. She took a deep breath and sat down.

"_Well...what an interesting mind we have here"_, she heard the hat whisper, _"I am surprised. You have a lot of kindness in you. Not something I expected giving who your parents are. Yes, you have a lot of loyalty as well. You would make a fine Hufflepuff, but you are insightful and intelligent as well. You can be manipulative when you want to be, and you have many other traits Slytherin would prize. Your bravery is not lacking, either. I can see you could fit in well in any of the houses, so where should I put you?"_

The hat made its announcement, and Lyra removed it from her head. She was met with complete silence.


	3. Chapter 3

"GRYFFINDOR"!

Lyra smiled and pulled the Sorting Hat from her head. After a noticeable pause, the table at the far left of the Hall started clapping for her.

Professor McGonagall read off the next name as Lyra sat down at the end of the red and gold table. Since no other first years had been sorted into Gryffindor yet, she was sitting by herself.

An older boy with red hair and a badge with a "P" on it came over and introduced himself to Lyra as Percy Weasley, the Gryffindor prefect.

"You know, I think I've heard of the Black family," he mentioned. "They were supposedly one of the most wealthy and influential wizarding families in Britain until You-Know-Who disappeared. I heard they were all big supporters of him. I never heard of any of them being in Gryffindor."

Lyra frowned. Percy Weasley seemed a bit pompous. She decided she did not like him much.

"So," Percy continued, "what house were your parents in?"

"I grew up in an orphanage," Lyra responded shortly, hoping it would shut him up.

It seemed to work. Percy's face grew red, and he did not engage Lyra in anymore conversation after that.

Lyra continued to watch the Sorting, as more and more first years joined the Gryffindor table. The bushy-haired girl from the train, who introduced herself as Hermione Granger, joined Lyra and started talking animatedly about how excited she was for classes the next day. Lyra tried to keep up, but the girl was talking so fast that Lyra could only just nod along occasionally, which seemed to be enough for Hermione.

Suddenly, whispering started breaking out across the Hall, and Lyra looked up to see that it was Harry's turn to be sorted. She shot him a smile, which he returned as he sat down on the stool. Lyra hoped that they would be in the same house, since he seemed so sweet on the train. After a few minutes, the hat shouted "Gryffindor!" and Lyra felt relieved.

Harry made his way over amongst cheers of "WE GOT POTTER!". Lyra made room for Harry to sit next to her.

Soon enough, Ron Weasley had also been sorted into Gryffindor and the Sorting Hat and stool were being taken away by Professor McGonagall. Lyra couldn't wait for the feast. She was absolutely starving. Professor Dumbledore stood up, and beamed at all of them. Lyra hoped he was not about to make a big speech or something.

"Welcome," he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"

"Thank you!"

He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered. Lyra heard Harry asking Percy if Dumbledore was a bit mad. Lyra was too excited for the feast to worry about Dumbledore's mental health.

Huge plates piled with delicious food appeared all over the table. Lyra couldn't believe how much food there was in front of her. She sampled a little of everything, and it was all so delicious. The orphanage occasionally had good food on holidays when it was donated by local charities, but nothing like this feast.

Lyra noticed the others were having a conversation with a ghost named Nearly Headless Nick, but she was too focused on the feast to really pay attention. Once the desserts appeared, the conversation started heading towards families. She heard a boy named Seamus explain that he was a half-blood, and a boy named Neville tall them all how his family thought he had no magic until his uncle pushed out a window and he bounced. Lyra shivered. She was a bit disturbed that Neville's uncle would take that kind of risk just prove whether his nephew was magical.

The others were laughing at Neville's story, and Ron turned to Lyra.

"What about your family, Lyra?" he asked.

Before Lyra had a chance to answer, Harry started clutching his forehead in pain.

"Are you all right, Harry?" Lyra asked him.

"Yeah, it's n-nothing," he responded. "Who's that teacher talking to Professor Quirrell?" Harry asked, turning towards Percy.

"Oh, you know Quirrell already, do you? No wonder he's looking so nervous, that's Professor Snape. He teaches Potions, but he doesn't want to - everyone knows he's after Quirrell's job. Knows an awful lot about the Dark Arts, Snape."

Lyra looked up at the High Table to see who they were talking about. She recognized Professor Quirrell from his turban right away, and felt slightly uneasy, but brushed the feeling away. She saw Professor Snape, and he did look a bit sinister dressed all in black. Then she turned her attention to Dumbledore, who was getting to his feet at the moment.

After Dumbledore's short speech about general rules and forbidden areas around Hogwarts, the students were led in singing the school song and were dismissed to the dormitories. Lyra followed Percy from the Great Hall through the labyrinthine passages of Hogwarts.

Once they arrived at a picture a large lady wearing a frilly pink dress, Percy told them the password ("Caput Draconis") and they all clambered through to the common room. Percy pointed out the way to the girls dormitories and Lyra bade Ron and Harry a quick goodnight and made her way to the dorm she would share with the other girls in her year.

Lyra found her trunk and owl next to a bed by one of the windows. She decided to go ahead and write to Brianna tonight since the next day would most likely be a bit overwhelming.

_Dear Bri,_

_My new school is amazing! Everyone I have met so far has been very kind, and the food is delicious. I only wish you were here with me! I know you've been feeling under the weather lately, but hopefully you'll start feeling better by the time your school starts. Are you excited to be going to secondary school? I hope Mrs. Winters isn't being too awful to you. Let everyone know that I miss them, and that I'll hopefully see you all at Christmas! _

_Lots of love,_

_Ly_

Lyra attached the letter to Lucinda, and watched her take off out the window.

"Who are you writing to?"

Lyra turned around to see Hermione Granger addressing her from the bed right next to her. Lyra internally groaned. Hermione seemed nice enough, but she also seemed a bit annoying.

"I was writing to my best friend." Lyra replied.

"Oh, are they a muggle then?"

"Yes, but she doesn't know I'm a witch. I really wish I could tell her, but..."

"I'm muggle-born too, so I know how it feels to have to keep it a secret. My parents know, obviously, but my other family members think I've gone to a nice boarding school for the gifted. Of course, they know me so it is fairly believable."

"Right..." Lyra was unsure how to respond. Hermione seemed like a know-it-all, but there was something she got wrong.

"Actually, I'm not muggle-born. My mother was a witch, but she...wasn't able to take care of me so that's why I ended up in the orphanage." Lyra decided to leave out the part about her mother being a mass murderer who was currently locked up in wizard prison.

Hermione looked at her with pity for having to grow up in an orphanage, and Lyra decided to end the conversation there.

She wanted to meet the other girls, but the feast had made her so sleepy that she decided to put it off until tomorrow. She drew back the curtains around her bed, took off her locket, placing it on the table beside her bed, and fell asleep almost immediately.

* * *

The next morning was one of the most stressful of Lyra's life. At the orphanage, she was used to being woken up, usually in some obnoxious way, by Brianna. So, Lyra ended up oversleeping, and had to sprint to the Great Hall. Unfortunately, Hogwarts' one hundred and forty-two moving staircases did not make that easy for her. She got hopelessly lost, and accidentally asked for directions from Mr. Filch, whom she soon discovered did not like students much at all. She sensed a mighty resemblance between him and Mrs. Winters.

Once she finally found her way to the Great Hall, students were already leaving for their first classes.

"Hey, there you are!"

Lyra spun around to see Harry standing behind her, holding her timetable and a few pieces of bacon.

"Thank you so much, Harry!" Lyra exclaimed with a smile.

"Oh, it's no problem. It was Hermione who suggested I take it to you, actually. She mentioned you got off to a sleepy start."

Lyra laughed, and explained how she overslept and got lost. Ron caught up with them as she was explaining her run-in with the caretaker, and laughed along with Harry.

As they made their way to their first class, Lyra noticed several students start whispering to their friends, peeking at them out of the corner of the eyes, or just downright staring at them. She was confused until she heard one of them ask his friend if they saw the scar. She glanced at Harry, and noticed him looking uncomfortable at all the attention, so she tried to hurry them along to class.

Lyra thought most of the classes were very interesting. She especially took a liking towards Charms and Transfiguration.

* * *

As Lyra was getting ready for bed that night, she looked over towards Hermione. Lyra decided that she had misjudged Hermione.

"Hey Hermione," Lyra said, "I just wanted to thank you for reminding Harry to grab my schedule this morning."

Hermione beamed at her and assured her that it had been no problem at all. She also offered to wake Lyra up in the mornings, which Lyra really appreciated.

Just as Lyra got into bed, she heard a tap at the window. She looked over and noticed Lucinda. Quickly getting up, she unlocked the window's latch to let her owl inside. Lyra immediately recognized Brianna's handwriting on the front of the envelope Lucinda was carrying.

_Dear Ly,_

_I'm glad you are enjoying your new school! Secondary school is a lot harder than primary was, but it's not too much different other than that. The others miss you and can't wait to see you at Christmas! I'm still not feeling all too well, but Mrs. Winters has been surprisingly pleasant recently, so I haven't had to do chores or anything! I miss you, Ly!_

_Love,_

_ Bri_

Lyra sighed after reading the letter. She was a little worried that Brianna was still sick. It had been weeks, she should have been better by now. However, she sounded as if it wasn't too serious, so Lyra let it go and went to bed, deciding that she would reply in the morning when she wasn't so tired.


	4. Chapter 4

When Lyra reflected back on her first few weeks at Hogwarts, a few moments would stand out more than any others.

During the first Potions lesson in the dungeon, Snape was so cruel to Harry; however, Snape's behavior towards her was somewhat surprising. Lyra expected him to be as critical of her as he was to all the other Gryffindors, but instead he completely ignored her. When he called her name during roll, she saw him give a barely noticeable shiver. When she finished her potion, he gave a short nod and moved on without saying a word. When she raised her hand to ask questions in class, he never called on her. Lyra could only guess why he treated her like he did.

A few days later, there was a notice that first years would be having flying lessons starting on Thursday. Lyra grinned at Harry, but instead of looking excited like she thought he would, he looked grim.

"Typical," he said darkly. "Just what I always wanted. To make a fool of myself on a broomstick in front of Malfoy."

Lyra didn't notice that the sign said they would be having the lessons with Slytherins. Suddenly, flying lessons became much less appealing.

Lyra heard Ron giving Harry some encouragement. She looked over at Hermione, who had a stricken look on her face.

"What's wrong, Hermione?"

"I-I can't learn how to fly from reading books!"

Lyra laughed, and assured her friend that flying wasn't meant to be learnt from books. The teacher was going to make sure they knew what to do before letting them go up in the air. This didn't seem to register with Hermione, who checked out several books on Quidditch to read before Thursday.

At three-thirty on Thursday, the Gryffindors made their way down toward a smooth, flat lawn on the opposite side of the grounds to the forbidden forest. Madam Hooch was there and ordered them to stand by a broom. Lyra stood between Harry and Ron. On Madam Hooch's whistle, she stuck her hand over the broom, like everyone else and yelled "UP!" Her broom, unfortunately, gave a little twitch and lay completely still.

"_Well_," Lyra thought to herself, "_at least it didn't whack me in the face._"

She looked at Harry's broom, and saw that it went straight to his hand. Ron's surprised expression matched her own.

"How did you do that?"

Before Harry could reply, a whimper could be heard from Neville's direction. He had pushed off the ground before Madam Hooch's whistle and was now about twenty feet off the ground, looking like he was about to be sick.

WHAM - a thud and a nasty crack and Neville lay facedown on the grass in a heap.

Madam Hooch left to take Neville to the Hospital Wing, but not before issuing a warning to not fly until she returned.

Of course, Malfoy had to cause trouble. He had grabbed Neville's Remembrall and taunted Harry to get it from him.

Harry grabbed his broom.

"No!" shouted Hermione. "Madam Hooch told us not to move - you'll get us all into trouble."

"Harry, you've never flown before! What if you get hurt?" Lyra piped up. She really didn't want to see her friend get hurt over a Remembrall.

Harry ignored her and flew off to meet Malfoy.

Lyra watched him go higher and higher, until she got dizzy. She grabbed her broom too.

"Lyra, you can't honestly be thinking about-" she heard Hermione shout, but she had already hopped on her broom and raced towards Harry.

She arrived just as Malfoy had dodged Harry zooming at him. When Harry caught sight of her, he gave an incredulous look and then shot her a grateful smile.

"No Crabbe and Goyle up here to save your neck, Malfoy," Harry called. "Plus you're outnumbered now!"

The same thought seemed to have struck Malfoy.

"Catch it if you can, then!" he shouted, and he threw the glass ball high into the air and streaked back toward the ground.

Lyra saw Harry racing towards the glass ball, but she could have cared less about the Remembrall. She took off towards Malfoy, instead. Within moments, she had caught up to him. At that point they were only a couple feet from the ground. She grabbed him by the robes. Malfoy let out a noise that could only be described as a squeal, and tried to elbow her. She dodged it, and grabbed him again, pulling him to the ground. She looked over just in time to see Harry catch the Remembrall, and land safely on the ground. She sighed in relief, and went to meet him, but then she heard a shout from the castle entrance.

"HARRY POTTER!"

Professor McGonagall was running toward them.

"Never - in all my time at Hogwarts -"

Professor McGonagall was almost speechless with shock, and her glasses flashed furiously, "-how dare you - might have broken your neck -"

"It wasn't his fault, Professor -"

"Be quiet, Miss Patil

"But Malfoy -"

"That's enough, Mr. Weasley. Potter, follow me, now. Miss Black, you come with me as well."

Harry looked terrified. Lyra looked glumly towards the ground. She hoped they weren't about to be expelled, but she didn't really think their transgression merited _that_. McGonagall stopped outside a classroom and asked for Wood, who turned out to be a fifth year boy. She led the three of them to an unused classroom, and turned to face them.

"Potter, Black, this is Oliver Wood. Wood - I've found you a Seeker, and possibly a reserve player."

Wood looked delighted, Harry looked puzzled, and Lyra was simply relived not to be in trouble.

McGonagall told Wood about Harry's incredible flying and Lyra's tackle of Malfoy. Wood laughed out loud and told Lyra that any first year who goes around tackling Slytherins in midair would be welcome on his team.

Wood and McGonagall continued to discuss how they needed to get us brooms and start training.

Then McGonagall smiled at Harry.

"Your father would have been proud," she said. "He was an excellent Quidditch player himself. And Lyra, I believe your mother was on the Slytherin Quidditch team for a couple of years."

Wood looked a bit disgruntled at this, but Lyra just shrugged. Harry seemed happy about following in his father's footsteps, but from what Lyra's heard about her mother, she was not exactly someone to be looked up to.

* * *

At dinner that night, Harry and Lyra were being congratulated by Ron and his twin brothers, who were also on the team, when Malfoy turned up, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle.

"Having a last meal, Potter? When are you getting the train back to the Muggles?"

"You're a lot braver now that you're back on the ground and you've got your little friends with you," said Harry coolly.

"I'd take you on anytime on my own," said Malfoy. "Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only - no contact. What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel before, I suppose?"

"Of course he has," said Ron, wheeling around. "I'm his second, who's yours?"

Malfoy sneered. "You Weasley? I don't think so. That would just be too easy. How about Black?" He said, turning towards Lyra. "At least she's from a _respectable_ family."

_"Was that Malfoy's twisted way of giving a compliment or something?"_ thought Lyra.

"To be honest, Malfoy, I don't take much pride in having a homicidal lunatic as a mother. I think you're just embarrassed to have been beaten up by a girl," replied Lyra.

Harry and Ron laughed, while Malfoy just looked at her, with an expression she couldn't describe. Was it pity? Or maybe betrayal? She couldn't tell.

"Very well, if Black's chicken, then Weasley's your only option, Potter. Good luck," He sneered.

When Malfoy had gone, Harry looked at Ron. "What is a wizard's duel?" said Harry. "And what do you mean, you're my second?"

* * *

Something had been bothering Lyra since McGonagall had mentioned that her mother had played Quidditch while she was at school. Perhaps Lyra hadn't put forth enough effort to find out anything about her mother. Maybe if she looked hard enough, she could find at least one redeeming quality her mother had. A reason her mother had chosen Lord Voldemort's side over her own daughter. Maybe Lyra could even figure out who her father might be. Perhaps he wasn't bad, like her mother.

Dinner had just ended and Lyra was wandering around the common room.

There was only one person that could help Lyra whenever it involved research.

"Excuse me, Hermione?" Finally Lyra found Hermione sitting alone in a table by the fire. She looked up at Lyra and sighed.

"I really hope you're not going to go help Ron and Harry get themselves expelled tonight," she said wearily.

Lyra snorted. "I don't think so. I can't stand the sight of Malfoy, plus neither of them know enough magic for the duel to be even remotely interesting."

Hermione scowled at that, and Lyra quickly continued: "Actually, I was wondering if you would want to go to the library to help me with some research."

Hermione brightened, but then looked at Lyra suspiciously.

"What exactly are you researching?"

"Well,...I just...you see..." Lyra took a deep breath. "I want to find out more about my mother."

Hermione looked puzzled, so Lyra elaborated.

"I just want to know if there was-I don't know-some kind of explanation for what she did, or something redeemable about her."

Hermione smiled and agreed to go help her.

Lyra was correct in figuring that Hermione would be a huge help. She led Lyra over to a stack of news articles that spanned the years that Bellatrix Black attended Hogwarts. Lyra found her mother in a picture of the Slytherin Quidditch team. Lyra realized that she had never seen a picture of her mother before. They looked a lot alike. Bellatrix had played Keeper during her third and fourth years. Lyra also found her mother's name on several honor rolls, and she even became a Prefect in her fifth year.

Bellatrix had been an exceptional student, so what went wrong?

Lyra looked for any boys Bellatrix was friends with to give her some clue as to the identity of her father, but the only one mentioned was Rodolphus Lestrange, and Lyra knew from Dumbledore that he wasn't her father.

Next, Hermione showed Lyra some newspapers from the war. Lyra was horrified when she found several articles on the brutal murders that her mother had committed. She was convicted of killing an entire family, even their two-year old daughter, because they refused to join Voldemort.

Near the end of the pile, Lyra found saw a headline that made her heart drop. She let go of the newspaper, which Hermione noticed, and came over to see what it was. She let out a gasp, and held out the article with trembling fingers for the two of them to read together.

**_CONVICTED DEATH EATER, BELLATRIX BLACK, _**

**_RESPONSIBLE FOR THE TORTURE OF AURORS FRANK AND ALICE LONGBOTTOM_**

_Bellatrix Black, known follower of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, __was convicted __this __morning __for torturing Aurors Frank and_

_ Alice Longbottom to insanity __for __information __regarding He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's whereabouts. __Occurring only days after _

_the downfall of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, __this attack __has sparked public outrage. Black has been sentenced to a lifetime in_

_ Azkaban Prison..._

How could this be true? How could she not have known? She knew Neville lived with his grandmother, but she never could have guessed it was because of her mother that he never knew his parents. That her mother tortured them until they were insane.

_"Neville must hate me,"_ Lyra thought.

"I'm sure he doesn't blame you," Hermione said.

Lyra must have accidentally said that out loud.

Hermione thought it must be getting late, so they quickly left the library. It must have been much later than they thought, because when they got to the portrait hole, the Fat Lady was not there.


	5. Chapter 5

"What are we going to do? What are we going to _do_? Lyra!"

"Hermione, it'll be alright! Panicking won't help any!" Lyra said, exasperated. Hermione had lost it when they returned to the portrait hole, and the Fat Lady had not been there. Lyra had spent the past ten minutes trying to calm her down. Lyra felt really bad for losing track of time in the library.

All of sudden, there was a thump behind them and Lyra turned around to see Neville sprawled on the ground behind them.

"What are you doing here?" they all asked at the same time.

"I was coming back from the Hospital Wing. But why are you out here? It's freezing, let's go in the common room," Neville said.

"We can't," explained Hermione, "the Fat Lady isn't in her portrait."

"So we'll just be stuck outside the tower all night?!"

At that moment, the portrait hole swung open to reveal Harry and Ron.

"NO!" Lyra shouted, trying to grab the door before it closed, but she wasn't quick enough. It closed with a resounding _click_.

"What are all you doing out here?" Ron asked, looking at them in puzzlement.

Lyra quickly explained where they had been and how they were trapped from getting back in the tower.

"Now what are we going to do?" Hermione asked, shrilly.

"That's your problem," said Ron. "We've got to go, we're going to be late."

"Ron! You can't just leave us out here for Filch to find. Let us come with you," Lyra said.

Ron looked like he wanted to argue, but Harry smiled at Lyra and told her they could go with them.

Ron huffed. "If any of you get us caught, I'll never rest until I've learned that Curse of the Bogies Quirrell told us about, and used it on you."

"As if you could," Lyra scoffed quietly. Hermione heard her and smiled in silent agreement.

When they arrived in the trophy room, no one was there.

"He's late, maybe he's chickened out," Ron whispered.

Then a noise in the next room made them jump. Harry had only just raised his wand when they heard someone speak-and it wasn't Malfoy.

"Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner."

Harry looked terrified. He led them quickly out of the trophy room. They were running through so many corridors, Lyra lost count. Finally, somewhere near the Charms classroom, they stopped.

I think we've lost him," Harry panted, leaning against the cold wall and wiping his forehead. Neville was bent double, wheezing and spluttering.

I - told -you," Hermione gasped, clutching at the stitch in her chest, "I - told - you."

"We've got to get back to Gryffindor tower," said Ron, "quickly as possible."

"Malfoy tricked you," Hermione said to Harry. "You realize that, don't you? He was never going to meet you - Filch knew someone was going to be in the trophy room, Malfoy must have tipped him off."

"Let's go," Harry said, ignoring Hermione completely.

They started making their way back to the tower when a giant shape came out at them. It was Peeves, cackling evilly.

"Wandering around at midnight, Ickle Firsties? Tut, tut, tut. Naughty, naughty, you'll get caughty."

"Not if you don't give us away, Peeves, please."

"Should tell Filch, I should," said Peeves in a saintly voice, but his eyes glittered wickedly. "It's for your own good, you know."

"Get out of the way," snapped Ron, taking a swipe at Peeves, but this was a big mistake.

"STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" Peeves bellowed, "STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE  
CHARMS CORRIDOR!"

Ducking under Peeves, they ran for their lives, right to the end of the corridor where they slammed into a door - and it was locked.

"This is it!" Ron moaned, as they pushed helplessly at the door, "We're done for! This is the end!" They could hear footsteps, Filch running as fast as he could toward Peeves's shouts.

"Oh, move over," Hermione snarled. She grabbed Harry's wand, tapped the lock, and whispered, 'Alohomora!"

The lock clicked and the door swung open - they piled through it, shut it quickly, and the others pressed their ears against it, listening.

Lyra turned around to see what room they were in, and her heart nearly stopped at the sight in front of her. She was literally frozen in shock, she couldn't even whisper a warning to the others.

"He thinks this door is locked," Harry whispered, oblivious to what was looming behind him. "I think we'll be okay - get off, Neville! What?"

Harry turned around. Lyra saw his eyes widen in terror at the sight of the monstrous three-headed dog that was taking up the entire room.

Harry had grabbed the doorknob and shoved the door open.

They fell backward - Harry slammed the door shut, and they ran, they almost flew, back down the corridor. Filch must have hurried off to look for them somewhere else, because they didn't see him anywhere, but they hardly cared - all they wanted to do was put as much space as possible between them and that monster. They didn't stop running until they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady on the seventh floor.

"Where on earth have you all been?" she asked.

"Never mind that - pig snout, pig snout," panted Harry, and the portrait swung forward. They scrambled into the common room and collapsed, trembling, into armchairs.

It was a while before any of them said anything. Neville, indeed, looked as if he'd never speak again.

"What do they think they're doing, keeping a thing like that locked up in a school?" said Ron finally. "If any dog needs exercise, that one does."

Lyra nodded in agreement. She thought Hogwarts was supposed to be safe!

"You don't use your eyes, any of you, do you?" Hermione snapped. "Didn't you see what it was standing on?"

"The floor?" Harry suggested. "I wasn't looking at its feet, I was too busy with its heads."

"No, not the floor. It was standing on a trapdoor. It's obviously guarding something."

She stood up, glaring at them.

"I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed - or worse, expelled. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed."

Ron stared after her, his mouth open.

"No, we don't mind," he said. "You'd think we dragged her along, wouldn't you?"

"Ron, you should try to be a little nicer to Hermione," Lyra suggested, "she means well, you know, even if she does at first seem a little-er-"

"Mental?" Ron suggested.

"She's not mental! She's very kind, and a great friend once you get to know her! You would be lucky to have her as a friend, but you won't if you keep putting her down," Lyra warned him.

Ron didn't look convinced and they went to bed shortly afterwards. Lyra checked on Hermione and apologized again for keeping her out after curfew.

"Don't be ridiculous, Lyra. It's both our faults for losing track of time. But I blame Ron for persuading Harry to agree to that ridiculous duel."

Lyra simply wished her friend goodnight, and closed her curtains. She thought about what Hermione said earlier about the possibility of a trapdoor guarding something, but she couldn't fathom what would need such heavy guarding.

* * *

Hermione refused to speak to Ron and Harry after what happened the previous night. She kept to her word too, which the boys saw as a bonus, but Lyra quickly grew tired of it. She was friends with all three of them, so she had to divide the time she spent equally between Hermione and the boys.

"To be honest, I don't know why you spend so much time with those trouble makers, Lyra," Hermione kept repeating. "Ron Weasley is a bad influence. Just look at how he has affected Harry. You don't want that to happen to you, do you?"

"Hermione Granger is a bossy know-it-all, Lyra," Ron continuously ranted whenever he got the chance. "How can you stand her stuck-up attitude all the time?"

Lyra sighed and hoped that they would all make up soon, or else this was going to be a very long year for her.

About a week after the three-headed dog incident, Harry and Lyra received new Nimbus Two Thousand broomsticks. Hermione looked disapprovingly at them. As they were walking out of the Great Hall, they overheard Harry and Ron's conversation with Malfoy. Harry gave credit to Malfoy for being placed on the team, since he stole Neville's Remembrall.

Hermione was looking furious.

"So I suppose you think that's a reward for breaking rules?" Hermione asked angrily.

"I thought you weren't speaking to us?" said Harry.

"Yes, don't stop now," said Ron, "it's doing us so much good." Hermione marched away with her nose in the air.

Lyra shook her head disapprovingly at Ron, and told Harry to meet her in the common room just before seven so they could go down to the Quidditch field together.

That evening, they made their way to the pitch for the first time. Harry was too eager to wait for Wood to show up, and hopped on his broom immediately. Lyra watched him from the ground as he flew laps around the pitch.

Once Wood arrived he explained to them all the rules of Quidditch. She got to try out all the positions, since she might have to fill in for any of them at a moment's notice. She definitely liked playing Keeper the most. She stopped every Quaffle that Wood tried to score against her. She was alright at the Chaser and Seeker positions, but she was an abysmal Beater. Wood told her that he'd have Fred and George help her with it at practice.

Wood was really pleased with the two of them. He told Harry that he could be better than Charlie Weasley and he told Lyra that she had a lot of potential to be a great Keeper after he graduated.

* * *

Lyra could hardly believe that it was Halloween already. She was kept very busy with Quidditch practice and homework that the days seemed to fly by.

Lyra wrote to Brianna at least once every week, but she was becoming increasingly worried when Bri's replies got less and less frequent. They were also rather short and lacking in detail. Lyra could tell that her best friend was unhappy being stuck at the orphanage, and she wished that there was something she could do, but she knew that there wasn't really anything to be done.

Harry and Ron had still not made up with Hermione, and Lyra was starting to doubt they ever would. She spent the evenings with Hermione, either studying or playing a rare game of Exploding Snap in the common room. Lyra spent time with Harry and Ron during meals and sat next to them in class.

During Charms class, they were making feathers fly. Lyra was paired with Harry while Ron and Hermione were forced to work together. Neither Lyra nor Harry were able to successfully make their feathers float in the air, but, naturally, Hermione got it on her first try after Ron had snapped at her.

As they made their way out of the classroom, Hermione and Lyra found themselves directly behind Harry and Ron.

"It's no wonder no one can stand her," they heard Ron telling Harry, "she's a nightmare, honestly."

Hermione looked very upset and pushed past the two of them. Lyra tried calling out to her, but Hermione either ignored her or didn't hear her.

Lyra rounded on Ron.

"That was a very rude thing to say, Ron."

"So?" said Ron, but he looked a bit uncomfortable. "She must've noticed she's got no friends."

"Yes, she does, she has me! Hermione has never done anything to you. Do you know what the real problem here is?" Lyra demanded.

"That she is a bossy know-it-all?" Ron spat.

"You're jealous of her," Lyra stated matter-of-factly.

"What? You think I'm _jealous_ of _her_? You're barking!"

Lyra rolled her eyes, and went to search for her friend. It took her the better part of an hour, but eventually she found Hermione crying in the girl's bathroom on the first floor. She sat down next to her friend and held her. It was a while before either of them said anything. Hermione was the first to break the silence.

"Why are boys so stupid?"

Lyra laughed. "Because they're boys! They say stupid things all the time, but that doesn't mean it's true or that they mean what they say."

Hermione gave her a watery smile.

"Do you want to go to the feast, now?" Lyra asked.

"I don't think so, but you go ahead."

"Nah, it won't be as fun if you're not there. And I don't think I could stand the sight of Ron at the moment," Lyra said.

At that moment a horrible stench filled up the bathroom.

"Gross! What _is_ that?!" Hermione exclaimed.

Lyra was feeling nauseous.

They looked up and saw a huge, disgusting creature slouch slowly into the bathroom. Hermione looked petrified.

"T-Troll," she whispered.

Lyra had only heard of trolls in the context of fairy tales occasionally told by the older kids at the orphanage. She had never pictured something as monstrous as the creature in front of her.

They heard the door slam shut and the key being locked. Hermione let out a piercing shriek, and ran for the opposite wall. Lyra was frozen in fear, but fortunately it looked like the troll hadn't noticed her yet.

The door burst open, and Ron and Harry ran in.

Lyra had never been so grateful to see the two of them.

Ron set out to distract it while Harry ran to Hermione, and tried to drag her with him. The troll started charging at Ron.

Harry then did something that was both very brave and very stupid: He took a great running jump and managed to fasten his arms around the troll's neck from behind. Then Lyra saw him stick his wand up the troll's nose.

Howling with pain, the troll twisted and flailed its club, with Harry clinging on for dear life.

Hermione and Lyra had sunk to the floor in fright.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Lyra looked over and saw Ron pointing his wand towards the troll's club.

It flew up in the air and came back down on the troll's head. The troll swayed on the spot and then fell flat on its face, with a thud that made the whole room tremble.

Harry got to his feet. He was shaking and out of breath. Ron was standing there with his wand still raised.

It was Lyra who spoke first.

"Is it - dead?"

I don't think so," said Harry, "I think it's just been knocked out."

Harry went over to the unconscious troll and bent over it. "Urgh - troll boogers," Harry said as he withdrew his wand from the troll's nose.

A sudden slamming and loud footsteps made the four of them look up. A moment later, Professor McGonagall had come bursting into the room, closely followed by Snape, with Quirrell bringing up the rear. Quirrell took one look at the troll, let out a faint whimper, and sat quickly down on a toilet, clutching his heart.

Snape bent over the troll. Professor McGonagall was looking at the scene. Harry had never seen her look so angry. Her lips were white. Lyra knew they were probably in a lot of trouble, but she was in too much shock to really care.

"What on earth were you thinking of?" said Professor McGonagall, with cold fury in her voice. Harry looked at Ron, who was still standing with his wand in the air. "You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitory?"

Then a small voice came out of the shadows.

"Please, Professor McGonagall - they were looking for me."

"Miss Granger!"

Hermione had managed to get to her feet at last.

"I went looking for the troll because I - I thought I could deal with it on my own - you know, because I've read all about them. Lyra followed me, and tried to tell me that I was being stupid and to let the teachers handle it, but I wouldn't listen to her."

Lyra gaped at her best friend. Hermione, telling a downright lie to a teacher? "If Harry and Ron hadn't found us, we'd be dead now. Harry stuck his wand up its nose and Ron knocked it out with its own club. They didn't have time to come and fetch anyone. It was about to finish us off when they arrived."

Harry, Ron, and Lyra tried to look as though this story wasn't new to them.

"Well - in that case..." said Professor McGonagall, staring at the four of them, "Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own?"

Hermione hung her head.

"Miss Granger, five points will be taken from Gryffindor for this," said Professor McGonagall. "I'm very disappointed in you. If you're not hurt at all, you'd better get off to Gryffindor tower. Students are finishing the feast in their houses."

Hermione left.

Professor McGonagall turned to Harry, Ron and Lyra.

"Well, I still say you were lucky, but not many first years could have taken on a full-grown mountain troll. You each win Gryffindor five points. I'm proud that you, Miss Black, had enough sense to at least try to stop your friend from doing something so stupid. Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. You may go."

They hurried out of the chamber and didn't speak at all until they had climbed two floors up. It was a relief to be away from the smell of the troll, quite apart from anything else.

"We should have gotten more than fifteen points," Ron grumbled. "Ten, you mean, once she's taken off Hermione's."

"Oh shut up, Ron. We're lucky to be alive," Lyra said.

"Good of her to get us out of trouble like that," Ron admitted. "Mind you, we did save her."

"We might not have needed saving if you hadn't locked the thing in with us," Lyra reminded him.

They had reached the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Pig snout," they said and entered.

The common room was packed and noisy. Everyone was eating the food that had been sent up. Hermione, however, stood alone by the door, waiting for them. There was a very embarrassed pause. Then, none of them looking at each other, they all said "Thanks," and hurried off to get plates.

After that moment, all four of them became friends. It seems that twelve foot mountain trolls have a way of bringing people together.

* * *

**Author's Note: I hope you've enjoyed the story so far. I plan to write a few chapters over the holidays, and update more after the new year. Thanks for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

The weather turned colder as they entered November. The Quidditch season was in full swing, and the first match would be on Saturday. Even though Lyra was only a reserve player, she was still excited to see her first game of Quidditch. Lyra was really nervous for the rest of the team, but she was quite glad she would be remaining on the ground for this one.

Lyra was also worried about Brianna. Lucinda had still not returned with a reply, and it had been almost three weeks! Lyra tried to put it out of her mind, and told herself that she could worry about it after the Quidditch match on Saturday.

Saturday morning, the whole school piled into the stands surrounding the Quidditch Pitch. Lyra walked out with the team, gave Harry a good luck hug, and walked over to where Madam Hooch was standing along with Slytherin's reserve players.

The game was more like a battle in Lyra's opinion. The Slytherins and Gryffindors wrestled relentlessly with the Quaffle. Oliver made several spectacular saves, and Lyra hoped that one day she could be that good.

At one point, Harry got fouled by Marcus Flint. He seemed all right, and Gryffindor got a penalty shot. Then things got weird. Harry's broom seemed to be jerking out of his hands a lot. He was holding on for dear life. It went on for almost five minutes, before the broom seemed to get back under Harry's control. Harry sped towards the ground, and landed on all fours.

Lyra raced over to him. Harry looked like he was about to be sick.

"Harry! Are you alright?"

He coughed and something fell onto his hand.

"I've got the Snitch!" he shouted, waving it above his head.

Twenty minutes later, they were all sitting in Hagrid's hut listening to Ron and Hermione's explanation about the broom while Hagrid began making some tea for everyone. Ron and Hermione believed it was Snape jinxing Harry's broom at the match.

"Rubbish," said Hagrid, "Why would Snape do somethin' like that?"

"I found out something about him," Harry told Hagrid. "He tried to get past that three-headed dog on Halloween. It bit him. We think he was trying to steal whatever it's guarding."

Hagrid dropped the teapot.

"How do you know about Fluffy?" he said.

"Fluffy?"

"Yeah - he's mine - bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub las' year - I lent him to Dumbledore to guard the-"

"Yes?" said Harry eagerly.

"Now, don't ask me anymore," said Hagrid gruffly. "That's top secret, that is."

"But Snape's trying to steal it."

"Rubbish," said Hagrid again. "Snape's a Hogwarts teacher, he'd do nothin' of the sort."

"So why did he just try and kill Harry?" asked Lyra.

Hermione nodded. "Lyra's right. I know a jinx when I see one, Hagrid, I've read all about them! You've got to keep eye contact, and Snape wasn't blinking at all, I saw him!"

"I'm tellin' yeh, yer wrong!" said Hagrid hotly. "I don' know why Harry's broom acted like that, but Snape wouldn' try an' kill a student! Now, listen to me, all four of yeh - yer meddlin' in things that don' concern yeh. It's dangerous. You forget that dog, an' you forget what it's guardin', that's between Professor Dumbledore an' Nicolas Flamel -"

"Aha!" said Harry, "so there's someone called Nicolas Flamel involved, is there?"

Hagrid looked furious with himself.

* * *

A couple of weeks later, the December cold was sweeping across Hogwarts. Everyone huddled around the common room fire for warmth, which made the common room loud and ill suited for studying.

Lyra and Hermione were bundled up outside near the lake with a few library books they had checked out. They were doing research on Nicolas Flamel. Ever since Hagrid had mentioned him, the four friends spent every minute they could pouring over library books to try to figure out who he was.

"This is hopeless," Lyra moaned.

"Come on, Lyra, we're bound to find him soon. We've been looking for weeks!"

"Yeah, and it's gotten us nowhere," Lyra sullenly replied.

All of a sudden, a big black shape swooped towards them.

"Lucinda!" Lyra cried, seeing her owl.

"_It's about time!"_ Lyra thought to herself, recognizing Brianna's handwriting as she detached the letter Lucinda was carrying.

_Dear Ly,_

_I know it's been a long time since I've written to you. I'm sorry, I just didn't know how I was going to tell you this. I thought the best thing to do would be to wait until Christmas to tell you in person, but I don't think this can wait that long._

_The thing is, Ly, the illness I kept getting this past summer keeps coming back, worse each time. Mrs. Winters finally had to take me to the emergency room. The doctors told me that I have a serious problem with my immune system. They used a lot of big words that I didn't really understand, but from the look on their faces, I think it's really bad. _

_I know your school is far away, and I know it's a lot to ask, but I really need to see you right now, Lyra. Remember that time when you healed Brandon's scraped knee? I know you did that; I could tell from your face that you made that happen. And then when you made those horrible men stop chasing us? You can make miracles happen, Lyra! Couldn't you make a miracle happen for me?_

_I miss you so much, and I understand if you can't come back before Christmas, but I really hope you can._

_Lots of love,_

_Bri_

When Lyra finished reading the letter, she quickly packed up her books and raced back to the castle.

"Where are you going, Lyra?" Hermione called after her.

Lyra didn't stop to explain. She ran through the corridors until she was out of breath. Finally, she reached Professor McGonagall's office. After knocking furiously on the door, she heard the Professor give an irritated "Enter!"

"Professor-" Lyra wheezed as she skidded through the door. McGonagall looked up from her desk with a severe expression.

"Miss Black, if this is not an emergency, I suggest you return later. This really isn't the best time."

"But Professor, it is an emergency!"

McGonagall raised her eyebrows, while Lyra handed her Brianna's letter.

When McGonagall finished reading through it, she simply heaved a sigh and turned towards Lyra with a grim expression.

"Why don't you take a seat, Miss Black," she suggested softly.

"Professor, shouldn't we hurry? Brianna could be getting even sicker! Doesn't the nurse have potions that could heal her immediately? Why don't we-"

"Miss Black, there's a lot you don't understand," McGonagall interrupted, "magic is to be kept secret from muggles. You know this."

"But this is different!"

"I am very sorry, Miss Black. This girl obviously means a lot to you, but law is law. Magic is not allowed to be performed on or near muggles, no matter the circumstances. This has been wizarding law since the Statute of Secrecy was established in 1692."

Lyra was getting incredibly frustrated. She didn't care about some old law! She just wanted to help Brianna! What was the point of learning magic if they weren't allowed to use it to help others?

"Professor," Lyra tried again, "I know in most cases that law makes sense for the muggles' own good. It keeps wizards from hurting them with magic."

McGonagall nodded, so Lyra continued.

"But Brianna is sick, and magic could heal her in an instant. Please, Professor, she's my best friend. Please, help her." Lyra was almost in tears at this point.

"Calm yourself, Miss Black. Maybe your friend will recover on her own? It wouldn't be ethical to heal your friend with magic just because she's your friend when there are probably thousands of other muggles sick like her."

Lyra trembled with outrage.

"It wouldn't be _ethical_ to let an eleven year-old _die_, because wizards are too selfish to use their magic to help muggles!" Lyra shouted.

"_Calm down_, Miss Black. I'm afraid I wouldn't even know how to help her, because Hogwarts doesn't even have cures for muggle illnesses. The Hospital Wing is only equipped with remedies for wizards, and those would be incompatible with a muggle. I'm afraid I cannot help you."

Lyra stomped out of the office and slammed the door shut behind her. She knew she was acting childish, but she was too angry to really care. She was so caught up in her fear and frustration that she collided headlong into somebody.

"Ouch! Are you all right? Oh, Harry!" She said as she noticed Harry sprawled on the ground across from her. "I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going!"

"That's alright, Lyra, I wasn't either-wait, have you been crying? What's wrong?"

Lyra wiped at her face. She didn't know she had actually begun to cry. Lyra climbed to her feet, and began telling Harry about the letter and McGonagall's refusal to help.

"I just don't understand, Harry. Magic would heal Bri in a second. Why is McGonagall refusing to help?"

Harry looked lost. "I have no clue, Lyra. You're right, it doesn't make much sense. Maybe you should try asking someone else to help your friend."

"Like who?"

"Er-what about Madam Pompfrey? Or an older student?"

"I...suppose that might work," Lyra replied thoughtfully. "Thanks Harry!"

Lyra decided to ask older students first, because she had a feeling that the nurse might have the same opinion as McGonagall. She went around the common room that night trying to find someone that might help her, but most of the ones she asked had no clue how, or thought it was a waste of time to help a muggle. She got frustrated and promised herself that she would try again in the morning.

By the end of the week, Lyra had still not found anyone who knew how to help her. She wasn't about to give up, though. After Transfiguration, she stayed after and asked Professor McGonagall if she could talk to the Headmaster. She knew that Dumbledore was fond of muggles and he seemed to like her, so it was worth a try.

"Why exactly do you need to speak to the Headmaster, Miss Black?"

Lyra faltered. "I-uh-just need to talk to him about something, Professor."

McGonagall looked at her suspiciously.

"This is about your muggle friend, correct? Look, Miss Black, I really wish I could help you, but it is simply not within my power to do so."

"Well, that's why I want to talk to Professor Dumbledore. Please, Professor, just let me speak to him," Lyra pleaded.

"The Headmaster is not here, and he won't be back until after the holidays, I'm afraid," McGonagall replied.

* * *

Lyra slowly made her way back to the tower in a daze. She had exhausted every option. The last person that might have helped her is gone.

Lyra went up straight to her dorm, ignoring her friends when they greeted her. She started packing a small bag containing only necessities.

Tomorrow she would be returning to St. Anne's Orphanage.


	7. Chapter 7

The next morning, Lyra woke up early and quickly went downstairs to eat a hurried breakfast. She could hardly eat anything, her stomach was flip-flopping so much with nerves.

Lyra was scared that she might not find a way to heal Brianna. The only plan she had was waving her wand over Brianna and desperately wishing for her friend to get better. That plan didn't exactly have much promise.

Lyra was also nervous about sneaking out of Hogwarts, which could result in her expulsion. Christmas holidays didn't begin for another week and a half, but Brianna couldn't wait any longer.

When she told Harry and Ron that she was sneaking out of Hogwarts to help her friend, they had promised to cover for her and tell the professors that she was sick, but she told them not to. She knew that the professors would figure it out eventually and she didn't want the boys in any more trouble.

Lyra's plan to get back to the orphanage wasn't great. One of the older Gryffindors had mentioned something called the Knight Bus. She looked up what it was in the library, and it sounded like it was her best bet on getting to St. Anne's, but only if she could successfully get to Hogsmeade without a professor catching her. That would be the most difficult part of her plan as it had many opportunities to go wrong.

Lyra had finished her breakfast, and was walking out of the Great Hall. She was so lost in thought, she almost walked right into Snape.

"Do you brats ever watch where you're-" He seemed to notice who had almost run into him, and paled a little before turning around and walking - well, practically jogging - in the other direction.

Lyra had an idea. It was far-fetched, but she was desperate. She ran to catch up with Snape.

"Professor!"

Snape whirled around and glared at her.

"What?" he snarled.

"I-um" Lyra was taken back by his hostility, but she took a deep breath and continued.

"Well, you see, I have this friend and she's really sick, and since you're the Potions Professor, I thought that you might know how to help her," Lyra rambled, "but nobody else is willing to help her just because she's a muggle, but that's just not right, she's still a person, and my best friend and I couldn't bear to lose her, and I thought-"

_"Enough." _

Lyra occasionally rambled when she was nervous; she wouldn't even notice until Brianna would start laughing and tell her to take a breath. Lyra sighed, knowing that talking to Snape was most likely a lost effort now.

Snape looked at her curiously. Lyra expected him to look angry, but he simply looked puzzled.

"Follow me...perhaps I can help."

Lyra blinked, thinking she had heard him wrong. However, Snape began turned away and motioned for her to follow him. Lyra couldn't believe it! Why would the cruelest professor in Hogwarts willing to help her when none of the others would?

He led her inside his office, and asked her a few questions about Brianna's condition before pulling out a small vial of blue-gray liquid.

"This ought to help her, but I will only give it to you on the condition that you tell absolutely no one about this," Snape told her sternly.

Lyra nodded, and hid the vial in her pouch. She thanked the professor sincerely and had to run upstairs to her dormitory. She didn't have much time. The best time to sneak out would be during the transition from breakfast to class. She grabbed her suitcase, which Hermione had cleverly shrunk to fit inside Lyra's pocket, and ran back downstairs.

Students were already flooding out of the Great Hall, which gave Lyra enough cover to sneak through the Entrance Hall doors with a group of Hufflepuffs that were heading towards the greenhouses. She kept her head down and followed them for a while before cutting across the lawn to the Forbidden Forest.

Lyra heard stories about the forest containing dangerous monsters. After seeing 'Fluffy' she didn't want to risk the rumors being true, so she ended up skirting around the edge of the forest until she was at the entrance gate.

She was relieved to see that it wasn't locked. She didn't have a back up plan if it had been. She slipped through the gate and quickly walked to Hogsmeade. Lyra shivered, but kept at a fast pace, sticking close to the trees along the path. Finally, the village came into view.

Lyra passed sweet shops and joke shops, but didn't waste any time to admire them. She had only Brianna on her mind. She stopped a good distance past the final building in the village, a creepy looking pub called the Hog's Head, and pulled out her wand. The library book said that all you had to do is hold out your wand to flag down the Knight Bus.

She felt silly holding her wand in the air for no reason until-

BANG!

A purple, triple-decker bus appeared out of nowhere and stopped in front of her. A teenager in a purple uniform came out and started speaking to her.

"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard just stick out your wand hand, step on board, and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike, and-"

The boy abruptly stopped his speech, and looked at her curiously. "You's lookin' a bit young to be going nowhere by you'self. You an 'ogwarts student? Woss your name?"

"I-I'm...that's not important," she stammered. "How much is it to get to St. Anne's Orphanage in Great Hangleton?"

"Eleven Sickles," said Stan, "but for firteen you get 'ot chocolate, and for fifteen you get an 'ot- water bottle an' a toofbrush in the color of your choice."

Lyra handed over eleven sickles, and took a seat near the back of the bus.

"Take'er away, Ern," said Stan to the driver.

Lyra was jostled up and down, and she was flung forwards whenever the bus made a sudden stop. She was beginning to feel sick.

"Grea' Hangleton!" Stan finally called.

Lyra tripped over herself when she tried to make it up the aisle. She breathed in relief to be off that awful bus. Lyra looked around and realized she was a few blocks from the orphanage. She wrapped her coat tightly around herself; the December air bit into her while she jogged towards the place that was both her prison and her home for the past ten years.

* * *

The orphanage had a familiar feeling to it. Lyra could hear the usual sounds of the children goofing off in the playroom upstairs. Being back here was bittersweet for Lyra. She had never liked the orphanage itself, but she was fond of the other kids and realized how much she truly missed them.

She heard a small gasp from beside her, and felt someone knock into her. She turned around to see a little boy clinging to her.

It was Brandon, a boy younger than her by two years. She thought of Brandon as a little brother; she had always tried to look out for him, and she took the blame for him a few times when he got in trouble with Mrs. Winters.

"Lyra! You're back!" he exclaimed, "Brianna said you wouldn't be back for a couple of weeks!"

"There was a change of plans. Brandon, do you know where Brianna is? I really need to talk to her; it's an emergency."

Brandon's face fell. "Mrs. Winters took her somewhere last night. I'm not sure where. Sorry Lyra."

"Oh...well, do you know where Mrs. Winters is?"

"Yeah! She's in her office right now. But I don't think she wants to be disturbed-"

Lyra cut him off. "Thanks, Brandon! I'll see you later."

She rushed up to the Headmistress's office. She remembered the numerous occasions she had been there for pranks or other rule-breaking. She knocked on the door, and waited.

"I told you brats that I couldn't-" Mrs. Winters looked shocked to see Lyra there.

"What are _you_ doing here, Black?"

"Er...I'm back for the holidays," Lyra lied. "Where is Brianna? Brandon said you took her somewhere last night."

"Oh...yes, I had forgotten...well I think you should come sit down."

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Winters, but I really need to see Bri. I know she's sick, and I really have to see her."

Mrs. Winters looked almost guilty, and rubbed her eyes wearily.

"I had to take Brianna to the hospital last night. She had taken a turn for the worst. I couldn't wake her up. The doctors said she had slipped into a coma."

"A coma?! Where is she now?"

Mrs. Winters hesitated. "She's at Great Hangleton Hospital, but I can't take you now. I don't have anyone to watch the other orphans."

"I can get there myself," Lyra replied. Mrs Winters usually let her and other orphans who were old enough go where she wanted as long as it was in Great Hangleton. After all, it wasn't a very large town.

"NO!" Mrs. Winters shouted at her. Lyra flinched at the sudden outburst.

"I mean...er...the weather is terrible out there, and there really isn't much point. Brianna is in a coma; it's not like you can talk to her. I think it's best you stay here," Mrs. Winters told her with a weary voice.

Lyra thought Mrs. Winters was acting strange, but she was too exasperated to give it much thought. Lyra was tired of adults telling her what to do and not being helpful in the slightest. She stormed from Mrs. Winters' office and pushed past the other orphans on the stairs.

"BLACK! Get back here!" Mrs. Winters called after her.

Lyra continued, ignoring the Headmistress. She burst through the front doors and started heading in the direction of Great Hangleton hospital.

The sun had gone down since she was last outside, and the cold was unbearable now. Lyra tried to set out at a jog, but soon realized that would be impossible. She was shivering too much to get anywhere very quickly. The wind knocked her down several times as she trudged towards the hospital.

The building had a forbidding look to it from the outside, but once Lyra stepped inside, the reception area was warm and inviting. Lyra made her way to the front desk and tried to get the receptionist's attention. The woman was twirling a strand of her hair while talking animatedly on the phone.

Lyra tapped her foot and huffed impatiently.

"Oh!" The receptionist exclaimed, finally noticing Lyra. "Sorry sweetheart, I hope you weren't standing there for too awful long. Now what can I do for you?"

"My name is Lyra, and I'm looking for my best friend. Her name is Brianna. She was brought in from St. Anne's Orphanage last night?"

"Alright darling, why don't you take a seat and I'll be with you in one moment." The receptionist said with a cheery voice. She hurried off somewhere, and Lyra found a seat.

There were hardly any people there. One guy, who looked like he was homeless, was sound asleep in the corner. There was an older couple waiting there as well, but other than that it was deserted.

Lyra breathed into her hands trying to warm them up. Now that she was so close to being able to save Brianna, she was beginning to get a little worried about all the rules she had broken. Hopefully Dumbledore would understand that it was an emergency.

Lyra hoped that the potion Snape had given her would work. She wasn't sure how she was going to give Brianna the potion when she was in a coma. That would definitely be tricky.

Lyra saw through the window that it was getting much darker outside. The receptionist still hadn't come back. Lyra could hear the wind howling ominously.

Suddenly, a doctor came through the same door that the receptionist had disappeared through. He had a grim look on his face.

"Lyra?" he called.

"That's me!"

The doctor came over and took a seat next to her.

"Are you a friend of the orphan, Brianna?"

"Yes! How is she doing?"

The doctor and breathed a heavy sigh, and rested his hand on Lyra's shoulder.

"I'm afraid I have some sad news for you, Lyra. Last night, Brianna was in a coma. We had been keeping an eye on her for a while now, and we believed that she had some kind of autoimmune deficiency. All of her symptoms pointed towards that being the case. When the medicines we gave her failed to help her at all, we did a scan of her brain. We...discovered a large tumor."

"Brianna has a tumor? In her brain?" Lyra panicked. She wasn't prepared for this. "So what now? Can you fix it?" she asked desperately.

"We did everything we could for her, but we caught it too late. She suffered permanent brain damage that cannot be fixed. She's on life support, but we are taking her off tonight. We needed to get permission from the head of the orphanage, and-"

"No!" Lyra cried. "You can't! You have to wait-she'll get better, I promise, just give her more time, please!"

The doctor shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry, but there are no other options. Brianna cannot recover from her condition, and the orphanage Headmistress gave us permission to take her off life support. If you want, you can be there with her when we do it. But only if you think you can handle it."

Lyra was in too much shock to do anything besides nod her head. The doctor led her through the doors to the emergency room.

_'I have do something. I can't let this happen. What am I going to do?'_ Lyra thought frantically, as the doctor led her through several hallways.

As panicked as she was, Lyra was able to realize what Mrs. Winters had done. She had given the doctor permission to take Brianna off life support. That was why she was upset, why she was so nervous talking to Lyra. Mrs. Winters _knew_, and lied to Lyra's face!

The doctor led Lyra to a white room with Brianna's small form on the bed. Lyra ran over to her best friend. Brianna looked nothing like she did a few months ago. Usually Brianna had sun tanned skin, bright blonde hair that fell in ringlets, and brown eyes full of warmth. Now, she was as pale as Lyra. Her hair looked frail, and her eyes were closed.

Lyra grasped Brianna's hand tightly.

"Wake up, Bri," Lyra fiercely whispered, "come on, you have to wake up. Please-" Lyra choked on her sobs. "Please, if there is a God out there, please help her. If magic and miracles are real, please oh please heal Brianna," Lyra cried desperately.

Lyra was sobbing uncontrollably, and she didn't notice that the doctor had stepped out for a moment. When he came back in the room, he was flanked by two other doctors. The two new doctors were doing something to the machine Brianna was attached to, while the original doctor came over and held Lyra's hand.

"NO!" Lyra begged them. "Please, don't, you can't do this-"

The doctor held onto Lyra's hand even tighter.

A long, resounding beep came out of the machine. The screen turned black, and the machine fell silent.

* * *

Lyra sat, holding Brianna's hand. The doctors had quietly left her alone some time ago. She sat frozen in horror.

Lyra looked at her friend. Her best friend. They had grown up together. They were practically sisters.

"Brianna..." Lyra choked back another sob. "I'm s-so sorry. I promised. I promised you that I would always have your back, and...and I failed. I'm so sorry, B-Brianna."

Lyra felt sick. She couldn't stand being there for another second. She couldn't look at her best friend...her best friend who was now _dead_.

Lyra fled from the room and took off towards the Hospital Entrance. She received weird looks from patients and doctors, but didn't notice any of them.

"Are you okay darling?" The annoyingly cheerful receptionist had returned to her desk, and was looking at Lyra with pity.

Lyra ignored the woman, and ran out of the hospital.

Tears were freezing on Lyra's cheeks and wind was whipping her hair, but she couldn't feel anything.

Her feet were moving, but she wasn't paying attention to where they were taking her.

She kept running until she couldn't run anymore.


	8. Chapter 8

_"Wake up, Ly! Come on, today is the day! Our first day of third grade! WAKE UP!"_

_Lyra heard a familiar laugh as she stumbled out of bed._

_"Why are you such a morning person, Bri?" Lyra asked her best friend. When Lyra looked over at the alarm clock, she saw that it was 6am._

_"And why did you wake me up two hours before we have to be at school?" Lyra groaned._

_"So we have plenty of time to get ready, silly!" Brianna replied, giggling._

_Lyra rolled her eyes, but smiled affectionately at her friend. Brianna already had both of their outfits picked out. She was best when it came to girly things like putting together outfits. The two of them always looked forward to the first day of school, because they thought of school as an escape from the boring orphanage._

_After an hour of primping, the two best friends looked at themselves in the mirror. Brianna took Lyra's hand._

_"This year is going to be great! I can just feel it!" Brianna said. She said the same thing every year. Lyra loved that about her. She was always positive, and she hardly ever complained. Lyra smiled at her._

_"Definitely," Lyra responded._

_"Promise me something, Ly. Promise that we'll always be best friends, and that even when we're all grown up we'll always have each other's backs."_

_"Of course we will, Bri." Lyra gave Brianna a big hug. "We'll always be best friends forever. I promise."_

* * *

"Oi! Get off me bench, ya filthy little urchin!"

Lyra woke up with a start to a loud and angry voice. She looked around and saw a homeless man glaring at her.

"S-Sorry," she stammered. She was shivering uncontrollably. It must have snowed at some point for her clothes were soaked. It didn't help that it felt even colder than the day before.

Memories from last night flooded into Lyra's head. She tried to pull herself together enough to stand up from the cold bench that she had slept on the night before. The rude homeless man took her place, and curled up on the bench as if he owned it.

Lyra knew that she probably had pneumonia from being out in this weather all night, but she wasn't as worried about it as she probably should have been. She wasn't sure where she was exactly, so she decided to walk until something looked familiar. It turned out she was only a few blocks away from the orphanage. She wasn't going back there permanently, but there were a few things she left in her room that she wanted to have to remind herself of Brianna.

As she walked, she thought about her dream. The morning before her first day of third grade. She had promised Brianna that they would have each other's back forever. Lyra failed her. The guilt poured over Lyra like a bucket of cold water. She could hardly keep walking.

After what felt like hours, Lyra finally made it to St. Anne's. It was eerily quiet when she walked in. She decided to find Mrs. Winters.

As she stumbled up the stairs, she heard loud voices coming from the office.

"Then why on Earth did you let her go?!" came a furious voice.

_Was that McGonagall?_

"Listen lady," came Mrs. Winters voice, "I have dozens of other orphans to care for. I can't drop everything to go after Black whenever she doesn't listen to me. That girl is a menace; she's always breaking rules!"

Lyra decided to make her presence known. She knocked on the door, and heard the voices inside go quiet. Mrs. Winters opened the door, and glared down at her.

"I told you she'd probably be back eventually," she grumbled towards McGonagall, who was looking angrier than Lyra had ever seen her. As Lyra looked up at Mrs. Winters, she barely suppressed the urge to kick the woman for giving the hospital permission to take Brianna off life support, and then lying to Lyra's face about how bad Brianna's situation really was.

Finally, Lyra simply stepped into the office, and moved out of Mrs. Winters' way, who then strode past Lyra out the door, leaving Lyra alone with McGonagall.

Silence hung over the room for a few moments. Lyra defiantly kept her head up, and looked straight at McGonagall.

"Do you have _any_ idea how much trouble you are in Miss Black?" she asked in an exasperated tone.

Lyra simply shrugged. She didn't care if she was expelled. Hogwarts didn't seem important anymore.

McGonagall's stern expression morphed into that of concern. "You look frozen, were you out in the snow all night?" McGonagall asked. "Well, Madam Pompfrey will just have to sort you out. Come with me, Miss Black."

"I don't think so," Lyra said with venom in her voice. "So you're willing to give me medical care, but you weren't willing to help Brianna?"

"Not this again-" McGonagall looked irritated.

"YOU LET HER DIE! JUST BECAUSE SHE WAS A MUGGLE!" Lyra shouted. McGonagall flinched, and almost looked afraid for a second.

"I'm n-not going back to Hogwarts! You're all m-monsters!" Lyra cried. Now that she had started crying, she couldn't stop. Her knees gave out, and she sunk to the floor. She put her head in her hands and sobbed.

"I'm sorry you lost your friend, Miss Black, but there are laws that you must accept if you want to be a part of our world. Magic must not be revealed to muggles."

Lyra felt anger grow inside of her. It was easier for her to be angry and blame others than sink into the mind-numbing grief that had consumed her all night.

"You belong at Hogwarts, Miss Black, but it's your choice. I'll leave it up to you."

McGonagall pulled some powder from her robes, and handed some to Lyra. McGonagall threw her powder into Mrs. Winters' fireplace and stepped into the emerald flames.

"Hogwarts!" McGonagall said before disappearing.

Lyra looked at the powder in her hand. She could just stay here if she wanted. She had a feeling her life would be a lot easier if she did. But her life would also be meaningless. She had to try to change how wizards viewed and treated muggles; she owed it to Brianna as well as the countless other muggles who could be saved by magic. Lyra couldn't let Brianna's death be in vain.

Taking a deep breath, Lyra threw the powder into the fireplace.

"Hogwarts!"

* * *

She coughed on the soot as she climbed out of the fireplace. Lyra looked around and realized that she was in McGonagall's office.

"You will serve detention every night for a month, Miss Black. You will be staying here for the Christmas holidays, and you are not to leave the castle except for Herbology. Is that understood?" McGonagall asked.

Lyra nodded.

"Good. Now get to the Hospital Wing."

* * *

When Lyra finally made it to the Common Room after two hours of Madam Pompfrey shoving potions down her throat, she engulfed Harry, Ron, and Hermione in a hug.

Suddenly, everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours washed over her again and she burst into tears. She sobbed into her friends' arms as they guided her to a couch near the fire. After a few moments, she pulled herself together and began to recount what had happened.

The race to the orphanage, and then to the Hospital. The doctor's devastating news, her last words to Brianna, and the machine being turned off. Lyra told them what happened up until arriving back at Hogwarts and receiving detention, when Ron and Harry shouted simultaneously-

"She gave you _detention_?!"

Even Hermione looked shocked. "That- that is absolutely despicable. Oh, Lyra I'm so sorry. I can't imagine what you're going through," Hermione said, looking at Lyra with pity.

Harry looked furious.

"They should have done something! And giving you detention on top of it all? Maybe Dumbledore-"

"He isn't here," Lyra interrupted. "Thanks for listening and supporting me, but I-I just think-I need to be alone right now."

She wiped at more tears as she ran from the Common Room. Lyra didn't come across anyone for a while as she wandered aimlessly through the corridors. She guessed most people were packing up for the coming holidays, excited to have a break from school. She wished she were like those students.

Lyra wasn't paying too much attention to where she was going. She found herself in a part of the castle she didn't recognize. A door had a sign that said 'Astronomy Tower' on it. Lyra had never been up on the Astronomy Tower before and figured it might be peaceful up there. She made her way up dozens of stairs until she was out of breath. Finally she pushed open a door at the top and gaped at the view from the tower.

She could see for miles up here! Brianna always appreciated beautiful places, if only she could - _'No!'_ a voice in Lyra's head stopped her. She couldn't think about Brianna. It was too painful.

Lyra had been so distracted, she hadn't noticed that she wasn't, in fact, alone.

"Miss Black?"

Lyra jumped and whipped around at the voice. She saw Professor Snape standing there, looking at her in what appeared to be concern.

"What are you doing up here alone?" he asked her. It wasn't in the rude voice he usually addressed Gryffindors with either. "And why are you crying?"

"I-I just wanted to be alone for awhile," Lyra responded eventually, wiping the tears from her face.

"I noticed that you weren't in my class yesterday. Why is that?" Snape demanded.

Instead of replying, Lyra pulled the vial he had given to her from her pocket.

"Here's this back. Thank you for being the only one willing to help me. I...I was just too late."

"You mean your friend-"

"She's dead," Lyra told him flatly.

Snape was silent for a moment. "I'm sorry to hear that," he told her gently while taking back the vial. He regarded her for a moment before sweeping through the door, leaving Lyra alone.

Lyra rummaged through her pockets, pulling out a photo she always kept with her. It was her, Brianna, and Brandon at the local petting zoo when the girls were nine and Brandon was seven. Brianna and Lyra were laughing at Brandon, who was making funny faces at Mrs Winters behind her back.

Lyra was devastated that she would never get to hear Bri's laugh again. Or watch her sneak an extra cookie to Brandon whenever Mrs. Winters wasn't looking. Or see her jump up and down excitedly on Christmas Eve, telling Lyra that this would be the year. That Santa would bring them presents, even though they both knew he wouldn't. Brianna was always impossibly optimistic, even when things were hopeless.

Lyra cried for her best friend. It wasn't fair that Brianna's life was cut so short. It wasn't fair that magic could have healed her, but no witch or wizard would, all because Bri was a muggle. It wasn't fair.

Lyra didn't know how long she stayed up there, mourning her best friend. The sun was going down, and she figured she probably had detention soon. Lyra stood up just as the door to the tower swung open to reveal Harry.

"Lyra! Thank goodness, we've been looking everywhere for you." Harry said shakily. "Please don't scare us like that, we had no idea where you were."

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize I was gone that long."

Harry gave her a weird look. "Lyra, it's been six hours!"

Six hours? She wondered how she had lost track of so much time.

"Well, I guess I need to get to detention then. I don't want McGonagall any more angry with me..."

Harry walked over to her. He paused for a minute before wrapping his arms around her in a hug. Lyra felt a sense of calm and warmth come over her as Harry held her. They stood that way for a minute before Harry slowly took a step back.

"I'm so sorry that you have to go through this, Lyra," Harry told her. "To lose your best friend, and then get a month of detention. It's not fair!"

Lyra smiled sadly. "I don't care about detention. I would serve a million detentions to just...be able to see Brianna again...to tell her I'm sorry."

"But...what do you have to be sorry about? She was sick, there wasn't anything you could do, right?" Harry asked with confusion evident in his expression.

"Years ago, we promised each other that we would always have each others' backs. I feel like I let her down, like I should have done more to save her. Magic could have helped her, but some stupid law-"

Lyra faltered. She wondered why there was a law to prevent muggles being healed by magic. Witches and wizards were given the gift of being able to perform magic, but how did that make their lives any more important than muggles?

"You know what, Harry? I'm not too sure I like this wizarding world anymore," Lyra said.

"W-What do you mean?"

"Tell me, how many muggle lives do you think wizards could save if they were allowed to heal them with magic? With all the natural disasters and epidemics that could be fixed with magic, why do wizards sit back and ignore the other 98% of people on Earth?"

Harry looked helpless. "I don't know. I guess they don't want the truth that magic exists getting out."

"That just doesn't seem like a good enough reason," Lyra replied. "But, I think I've found a way to make sure that Brianna's death wasn't in vain. It won't be easy, and it will take a lot of time, but one day...one day I want to change the way muggles are treated. I want to organize and train wizards to heal muggles with magic, and help them with natural disaster relief, and...and..."

"I believe you'll be able to do all of that, Lyra," Harry said, interrupting her rambling.

"You do?"

"Sure! You were so brave, breaking the rules to help Brianna. I think if you set your mind to this, then it will happen one day somehow. But-er-for today, you should probably focus on not getting expelled, so..."

"Detention! I almost forgot. Well, I should get going, but thanks for everything Harry," Lyra gave him a quick hug before taking off towards the door. She paused, and turned towards Harry again.

"You're a great friend, Harry."

Harry smiled at her. "So are you, Lyra. If there's anything you need, I'm always here for you."

Lyra thanked him and rushed down the stairs.

Even though she still felt overwhelming grief from the loss of her best friend and now had a month of detention to look forward to, she felt hope that things would get better eventually. Lyra knew now that she would have to make the most of the opportunities that were presented to her and work harder on her school work if she wanted to be powerful enough to change things.


	9. Chapter 9

Time passed slowly for Lyra. Once the holidays began, Ron and Harry spent a lot of effort trying to cheer her up with games of Wizard's Chess and Exploding Snap, and her nights consisted of scrubbing down the castle from top to bottom with Mr. Filch supervising her.

On Christmas Eve she had a shortened detention and she was told that she wouldn't have it at all the next day. Lyra was indifferent. Detention wasn't fun, but scrubbing floors served as a good enough distraction from the grief Lyra was feeling over Brianna.

Nights were long and lonely. The other girls in her dormitory had left for the holidays, so Lyra spent most of her time looking through old photos of Brianna, or twirling her locket mindlessly. She didn't sleep much. It seemed that whenever she closed her eyes, the image of Brianna lying pale and lifeless would occupy her mind.

On Christmas morning, Lyra woke up to find a small pile of gifts at the foot of her bed. She was surprised. Lyra had never gotten many presents at the orphanage, so seeing a pile of presents just for her made her feel happy and guilty at the same time. She decided to take the lot of them to the boys' dormitory since her dormitory was empty.

When she got there, Harry was opening a present from Hagrid. It looked to be some sort of flute.

"Lyra! Happy Christmas!" Harry smiled at her.

"Happy Christmas to both of you as well," she replied.

Lyra started on her presents. She received some sort of cake from Hagrid, but she was a bit scared to eat it. It was as hard as a rock.

Meanwhile, Ron was examining a fifty pence piece that Harry had gotten from his relatives.

"You can keep it," said Harry, laughing at how pleased Ron was. "Hagrid and my aunt and uncle - so who sent these?"

"I think I know who that one's from," said Ron, turning a bit pink and pointing to a very lumpy parcel. "My mom. I told her you and Lyra didn't expect any presents and - oh, no," he groaned, "she's made you a Weasley sweater."

Lyra looked to realize she had a similar parcel.

Harry got an emerald green sweater and a large box of homemade fudge. Lyra opened hers to reveal a similar sweater in pink with some homemade cookies.

"Every year she makes us a sweater," said Ron, unwrapping his own, "and mine's always maroon."

"That's really nice of her," said Harry, who was already digging in to his fudge.

"Yes, I'll have to thank her," Lyra said. "Do either of you want to try any of these?" Lyra held up the cookies. Harry declined, but Ron came over and tried one.

"Mmm, these are my favorite."

Lyra received a box of Chocolate Frogs from Hermione, a Chudley Cannons poster from Ron, and a beautiful charm bracelet from Harry. She looked up to thank him, and saw that he was holding a shining, silvery cloak.

"It's an invisibility cloak," said Ron, a look of awe on his face. "I'm sure it is - try it on."

Harry threw the cloak around his shoulders and Ron gave a yell.

"It is! Look down!"

Harry's head was the only part of him that was visible!

There's a note!" said Ron suddenly. "A note fell out of it!"

Harry read the note to himself, while Ron admired the cloak. Lyra went over and tried the cloak on as well. She was impressed.

"I'd give anything for one of these," Ron said. "Anything. What's the matter?"

"Nothing," said Harry quickly.

Lyra realized she had another package to open. She wondered who else might have sent her something as she inspected the nicely wrapped box. She tore off the paper to reveal a large, leather bound book with her name engraved on the front. Just as she was about to open it up, the dormitory door was flung open, and Fred and George Weasley bounded in.

"Merry Christmas!"

"Hey, look - Harry and Lyra got Weasley sweaters, too!"

Fred and George were wearing blue sweaters, one with a large yellow F on it, the other a G.

"Their sweaters are better than ours, though," said Fred, holding up Harry's sweater. "She obviously makes more of an effort if you're not family."

"Why aren't you wearing yours, Ron?" George demanded. "Come on, get it on, they're lovely and warm."

"I hate maroon," Ron moaned halfheartedly as he pulled it over his head.

"You haven't got a letter on yours," George observed. "I suppose she thinks you don't forget your name. But we're not stupid - we know we're called Gred and Forge."

"What's all this noise?"

Percy Weasley stuck his head through the door, looking disapproving. He had clearly gotten halfway through unwrapping his presents as he, too, carried a lumpy sweater over his arm, which Fred seized.

"P for prefect! Get it on, Percy, come on, we're all wearing ours, even Harry and Lyra."

"I - don't - want" said Percy thickly, as the twins forced the sweater over his head, knocking his glasses askew.

"And you're not sitting with the prefects today, either," said George. "Christmas is a time for family."

They frog-marched Percy from the room, his arms pinned to his side by his sweater.

Lyra laughed, and gathered up her gifts to take back to her dormitory. Once she got there, she pulled out the mysterious book, and began flipping through it. It was a photo album, but it only contained one picture. At the very front there was a single photograph of a baby girl with dark hair and pale skin.

Lyra's stomach flipped when she recognized herself as the baby. In the picture she seemed to be giggling at someone behind the camera.

She opened the letter and read the elegant handwriting.

_My Dearest Lyra,_

_I apologize for not making contact with you sooner. I have wanted to for a long time, but Dumbledore has done a good job keeping you a well guarded secret. I am sure you are curious about who I am, but it is not something I can tell you right now. Not in a letter. In time, I will reveal myself to you. That is a promise. Most of all I want you to know that I never wanted to part with you. I certainly did not want you growing up in that filthy muggle orphanage. If circumstances had allowed it, I would have been there every day for you, to watch you grow up and guide you to achieve your highest potential. Since I could not be with you for all those years, I hope that you can fill this book with photos from the past ten years so that when we are reunited, I may see how my lovely daughter grew into the beautiful young witch she is today. I have no doubt that you will become a great and powerful witch; it is in your blood. Focus on your studies, and be careful who you associate yourself with. Do not trust Albus Dumbledore for he is not looking out for your best interests. Good luck, my dear, and a very happy Christmas to you._

_Your Father_

* * *

Lyra stared at the letter in shock for a while before she shook her head, and stuffed the letter and the book inside her bedside drawer. The letter could be a hoax or something, but that didn't make much sense. What would anyone gain from pretending to be her father? And if the letter really was sent by her father, what were these "circumstances" that prevented him from raising her, but he was still able to send her anonymous gifts and letters? And why does he not want her to trust Dumbledore?

Lyra knew she shouldn't dwell on it, so she put it out of her mind for the time being.

Christmas was fun and exciting. The Christmas dinner was extravagant, but she felt guilty eating it knowing that all the orphans at St. Anne's would be eating was a small, half-stale turkey. Still, she tried to enjoy herself as best she could, and the food was delicious.

It was funny to watch Harry lose spectacularly to Ron at Wizard's Chess that night. Percy kept trying to help Harry by suggesting different moves he could make, but it only made things worse. Fred and George ended up stealing Percy's prefect badge, causing a full-blown chase to break out.

The Weasleys went up to bed early, leaving Harry and Lyra the only ones left in the common room.

"Did you have a good Christmas, Lyra?" Harry asked her absentmindedly.

"Oh...yes, it was very nice."

Harry looked over at her, and his face softened. "I'm sorry for what you're going through. It must be hard watching everyone having fun, while you're...well..."

"Oh no," Lyra told him. "It's okay, really. It's a good distraction from everything."

Lyra debated telling him about the strange gift she had received, but decided against it.

Harry yawned. "Well, I'm going to get some sleep. It's getting rather late," he said.

"Okay, have a goodnight. And Happy Christmas, Harry," Lyra said.

It _was_ getting late, but Lyra didn't want to go to sleep just yet. Sleep just brought nightmares. Lyra kept her eyes open for as long as she could. At the back of her mind, something was bothering her about the mysterious letter supposedly from her father, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

The common room's fire was slowly burning out as Lyra laid down on the couch and closed her eyes. After a few moments she thought she heard footsteps, but Lyra just rolled over on the couch and drifted off to sleep.

Replaying over and over in Lyra's dreams was the image of Brianna's pale, lifeless body lying in the hospital bed.

_"It wouldn't be ethical to heal your friend with magic just because she's your friend when there are probably thousands of other muggles sick like her."_

_"We did everything we could for her, but we caught it too late. She's on life support, but we are taking her off tonight."_

_"Brianna..." Lyra choked back another sob. "I'm s-so sorry. I promised. I promised you that I would always have your back, and...and I failed. I'm so sorry, B-Brianna."_

_"I'm n-not going back to Hogwarts! You're all m-monsters!"_

_..._

_"Do not trust Albus Dumbledore for he is not looking out for your best interests..."_

* * *

Lyra was being shaken. She bolted upright and looked around, confused, before she remembered that she had fallen asleep in the common room. Harry was shaking her with a strange gleam in his eyes.

"Wha-?"

"Come on, Lyra," Harry said. "I have to show you something!"

"Right now?" Lyra asked. "It's-," she glanced at her watch, "two o'clock in the morning!"

"I know. I was going to wait to show you tomorrow, but you have to see this," Harry was now tugging her towards the Portrait hole desperately.

He draped his invisibility cloak around them, and began leading Lyra through countless corridors before he opened up a door that stood ajar and led her inside.

The room looked like an unused classroom. The dark shapes of desks and chairs were piled against the walls, and there was an upturned wastepaper basket - but propped against the wall facing her was something that didn't look as if it belonged there, something that looked as if someone had just put it there to keep it out of the way.

It was a magnificent mirror, as high as the ceiling, with an ornate gold frame, standing on two clawed feet. There was an inscription carved around the top: _Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi._

Lyra turned to Harry. "You dragged me halfway across the castle at two o'clock in the morning to show me a _mirror_?"

"It's not a normal mirror!" he replied indignantly.

Lyra decided to humor Harry, so she stepped in front of the mirror. She had to hold back a scream, because she saw a whole group of people behind her. She looked back, but only saw Harry there.

"Wh-what is this?" she asked him shakily.

"I don't know, but I see my parents in it. What do you see?"

Lyra looked back at the mirror. She saw Ron and Hermione behind her, and Harry was at her side. On the other side of her stood a small girl with curly blonde hair and bright brown eyes. Brianna.

"Bri-Brianna?" Lyra stepped closer to the mirror and held her hand up to it. The mirror Brianna was crying. Smiling, but crying as she held up her hand to match Lyra's. Lyra stared into the mirror for a while before Harry gently told her that they should get to bed, but they could come back the next night after Lyra came back from detention.

The next night, Harry brought Ron with them. It was difficult to maneuver under the cloak with three people and Ron kept complaining about the cold, but they eventually found the room.

Ron went up to the mirror and seemed transfixed with the image.

"Look at me!" he said.

"Can you see anyone standing around you?" Harry asked.

"No - I'm alone - but I'm different - I look older - and I'm head boy!"

"What?" Harry and Lyra asked at the same time.

"I am - I'm wearing the badge like Bill used to - and I'm holding the house cup and the Quidditch cup - I'm Quidditch captain, too.

Ron tore his eyes away from this splendid sight to look excitedly at Harry and Lyra.

"Do you think this mirror shows the future?"

"How can it? All my family are dead - let me have another look -"

"You had it to yourself all last night, give me a bit more time."

"You're only holding the Quidditch cup, what's interesting about that? I want to see my parents."

"Don't push me -"

"Shut it, both of you!" Lyra snapped at them. They were being way too loud, and she thought she had heard a noise in the corridor.

"Quick!" Ron exclaimed as he threw the cloak back over them. The luminous eyes of Mrs. Norris came round the door. The three of them stood quite still, all thinking the same thing - did the cloak work on cats? After what seemed an age, she turned and left.

"This isn't safe - she might have gone for Filch, I bet she heard us. Come on," Lyra said.

Lyra dragged the boys out of the room.

Harry and Lyra were both distracted the next day.

"Want to play chess, Harry?" said Ron.

"No."

"Why don't we go down and visit Hagrid, Lyra?"

"No...you go..."

"I know what you two are thinking about, that mirror. Don't go back tonight."

"Why not?"

"I dunno, I've just got a bad feeling about it - and anyway, you've had too many close shaves already. Filch, Snape, and Mrs. Norris are wandering around. So what if they can't see you? What if they walk into you? What if you knock something over? Lyra, do you really want to risk getting _more_ detention?"

"You sound like Hermione," Harry said.

"I'm serious, Harry, don't go."

But Harry and Lyra only had one thought in their heads, which was to get back in front of the mirror, and Ron wasn't going to stop them.

Lyra was exhausted that night after a particularly long detention, but she followed Harry out the portrait hole nevertheless. That third night they found their way more quickly than before. They were making more noise than was wise, but they didn't meet anyone.

And there was Brianna smiling at her again, holding her hand up against the mirror towards her. Lyra let Harry have a turn, and he sank down to sit on the floor in front of the mirror. There was nothing to stop them from staying here all night in front of the mirror. Nothing at all.

Except -

"So - back again, you two?"

Lyra froze in fear. She managed to turn around and saw none other than Albus Dumbledore himself sitting on one of the desks next to the wall.

" - I didn't see you, sir," Harry choke out.

"Strange how nearsighted being invisible can make you," said Dumbledore.

"So," said Dumbledore, slipping off the desk to sit on the floor with Harry, "you and Lyra, like hundreds before you, have discovered the delights of the Mirror of Erised."

"I didn't know it was called that, Sir."

"But I expect you've realized by now what it does?"

"It - well - it shows me my family -"

"And it showed your friend Ron himself as head boy."

"How did you know -?"

"I don't need a cloak to become invisible," said Dumbledore gently. "Now, can you think what the Mirror of Erised shows us all?"

Harry shook his head, but Lyra had already guessed.

"It shows us what we want...whatever we want..." she said.

"Yes, and no," said Dumbledore quietly. "It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts. You, Harry, who have never known your family, see them standing around you. Ronald Weasley, who has always been overshadowed by his brothers, sees himself standing alone, the best of all of them. And it shows Lyra her best friend standing beside her again."

Lyra looked at the Dumbledore.

"Professor McGonagall informed me of what happened," Dumbledore said, "I am very sorry for your loss. I do not wish to undermine Professor McGonagall's authority so I will not be able to reverse your detention; however, if you need to talk to someone about what happened, I will always listen and try to help as best I can."

"Sir...if you had been here, would you have helped her? Brianna, I mean?" Lyra asked.

Dumbledore looked away. "It does not do to dwell on would-have's, Lyra."

Lyra was mystified by this, and thought he just was avoiding her question. Dumbledore began to address Harry about the mirror again. Dumbledore told them that the mirror gave us no truth or knowledge, and that it would be moved the next day.

"Now, why don't you two put that admirable cloak back on and get off to bed?"

Harry stood up.

"Sir - Professor Dumbledore? Can I ask you something?"

"Obviously, you've just done so," Dumbledore smiled. "You may ask me one more thing, however."

"What do you see when you look in the mirror?"

"I? I see myself holding a pair of thick, woolen socks."

Harry stared.

"One can never have enough socks," said Dumbledore. "Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn't get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books."

* * *

'Either Dumbledore is certifiably mad, or he lied to us more than once tonight,' Lyra thought to herself as she climbed into bed.

Her father's words echoed in her mind. _"Do not trust Albus Dumbledore for he is not looking out for your best interests."_

Lyra was sad that the mirror would be moved. It felt like losing Brianna all over again. Sleep eventually overcame Lyra, and the mirror was pushed from her mind as the nightmares came again.


	10. Chapter 10

Without the Mirror of Erised to distract her, the rest of the holidays passed slowly for Lyra. She was excited for classes to start again. When holidays were finally over, Lyra put all her spare time and energy into studying. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were still researching Nicolas Flamel, but that didn't seem as important to Lyra anymore. If she wanted to become powerful enough to change the way wizards thought of muggles, she couldn't waste time researching some silly mystery.

Instead, she focused on her work, which pleased her professors. Even McGonagall couldn't criticize her when Lyra became the first one to master each new transfiguration. Snape awarded Lyra more house points than any other student, which made the Slytherins furious and the Gryffindors dumbfounded.

In her spare time, Lyra read advanced books from the library and practiced Defense Against the Dark Arts on her own. Quirrell was not the greatest teacher, so Lyra had to do the best she could with diagrams and instructions from books.

After her month of detention was over, Lyra was able to attend Quidditch practice again. She told herself that knowing how to fly was important to become a great witch too, but if she was being honest, she just didn't want to let Harry down.

During one particularly wet and muddy practice session, Wood gave the team a bit of bad news. He'd just gotten very angry with the Weasleys, who kept dive-bombing each other and pretending to fall off their brooms.

"Will you stop messing around!" he yelled. "That's exactly the sort of thing that'll lose us the match! Snape's refereeing this time, and he'll be looking for any excuse to knock points off Gryffindor!"

George Weasley really did fall off his broom at these words.

"Snape's refereeing?" he spluttered through a mouthful of mud. "When's he ever refereed a Quidditch match? He's not going to be fair if we might overtake Slytherin."

The rest of the team landed next to George to complain, too.

"It's not my fault," said Wood. "We've just got to make sure we play a clean game, so Snape hasn't got an excuse to pick on us."

Lyra knew that Harry suspected that Snape had been the one to jinx his broom in the last match. While she didn't think that Snape would do that after he tried to help her save Brianna, she still didn't really like the idea of Harry playing while _someone_ at Hogwarts could be trying to hurt him.

When they got back to the common room, Harry wasted no time telling Ron and Hermione about Snape refereeing the next match.

"Don't play," said Hermione at once.

"Say you're ill," said Ron.

"Pretend to break your leg," Hermione suggested.

"Really break your leg," said Ron.

"But who will play seeker?" Harry asked desperately.

Hermione looked pointedly at Lyra.

"Me?" she asked. "But-I'm not as good as Harry-"

"Snape loves you though! He's always giving you loads of points in class!"

"Hermione's right, Lyra," Harry said, slowly. "Snape isn't likely to be unfair to you."

"But-"

Lyra's objections were drowned out by laughter. People were pointing and laughing at Neville who had just fallen over from a leg-locker curse. Lyra jumped up and immediately performed the counter-curse.

"Stop laughing!" she snapped at the room at large. Immediately, everyone fell into an awkward silence.

"What happened?" Lyra asked Neville, leading him over to sit with Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"Malfoy," said Neville shakily. "I met him outside the library. He said he'd been looking for someone to practice that on."

"Go to Professor McGonagall!" Hermione urged Neville. "Report him!" Neville shook his head.

"I don't want more trouble," he mumbled.

"Don't go to McGonagall. She's not very fair when it comes to punishment," Lyra muttered. "In fact, she might just punish _you_ when all you were doing was the _right_ thing."

Harry looked at her sympathetically, but the others ignored her.

"You've got to stand up to him, Neville!" said Ron. "He's used to walking all over people, but that's no reason to lie down in front of him and make it easier."

"There's no need to tell me I'm not brave enough to be in Gryffindor, Malfoy's already done that," Neville choked out.

Harry pulled out a Chocolate Frog, and gave it to Neville, who looked as though he might cry.

"You're worth twelve of Malfoy," Harry said. "The Sorting Hat chose you for Gryffindor, didn't it? And where's Malfoy? In stinking Slytherin."

Neville's lips twitched in a weak smile as he unwrapped the frog.

"Thanks, Harry... I think I'll go to bed... D'you want the card, you collect them, don't you?"

"Dumbledore again," Harry said as Neville walked away, "He was the first one I ever-"

He gasped.

"I've found him!" he whispered. "I've found Flamel! I told you I'd read the name somewhere before, I read it on the train coming here - listen to this: 'Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel'!"

Hermione jumped to her feet.

"Stay there!" she said, and she sprinted up the stairs to the girls' dormitories. Harry, Lyra, and Ron barely had time to exchange mystified looks before she was dashing back, an enormous old book in her arms.

"I never thought to look in here!" she whispered excitedly. "I got this out of the library weeks ago for a bit of light reading."

"Light?" said Ron, but Hermione told him to be quiet until she'd looked something up, and started flicking frantically through the pages, muttering to herself.

"I knew it! I knew it!"

"Are we allowed to speak yet?" said Ron grumpily. Hermione ignored him.

"Nicolas Flamel," she whispered dramatically, "is the only known maker of the Sorcerer's Stone!"

That made sense to Lyra. A stone that could give you immortality and endless riches was definitely something that needed to be guarded heavily.

"The what?" said Harry and Ron, both of whom looked mystified.

"Oh, honestly, don't you two read? Look - read that, there," Hermione said as she pushed the book toward them.

"See?" said Hermione, when Harry and Ron had finished. "The dog must be guarding Flamel's Sorcerer's Stone! I bet he asked Dumbledore to keep it safe for him, because they're friends and he knew someone was after it, that's why he wanted the Stone moved out of Gringotts!"

"A stone that makes gold and stops you from ever dying!" said Harry. "No wonder Snape's after it! Anyone would want it."

"And no wonder we couldn't find Flamel in that Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry," said Ron. "He's not exactly recent if he's six hundred and sixty-five, is he?"

* * *

When Harry informed Wood that he wanted Lyra to take his place at the next match, Wood was less than enthusiastic.

"You have to play, Harry, or we'll be crushed by Hufflepuff!"

"Thanks a lot," Lyra muttered.

Harry looked uncomfortable, but Hermione reminded him that Quidditch wasn't worth getting hurt over. Wood didn't seem to share the same sentiments, and forced Lyra to practice at every possible moment. Every night he dragged her out to the pitch and made her stay until she caught the snitch. She was getting better at it, but she was nowhere near as good as Harry.

On Saturday morning Harry, Ron, and Hermione wished Lyra luck outside the locker room, and made their way to the stands.

Before the match began, Wood pulled Lyra aside.

"Don't want to pressure you, Black, but if we ever need an early capture of the Snitch it's now. Finish the game before Snape can favor Hufflepuff too much. The Hufflepuff seeker is a talented fourth year named Diggory, so watch out for him."

Lyra nodded as she mentally prepared herself for her first ever Quidditch match.

She was using Harry's Nimbus Two Thousand for the match. Harry said that it was the least he could do.

Lyra soared above the pitch, desperately searching for the Snitch. The Hufflepuff seeker, Diggory, seemed to be doing the same thing. The Hufflepuffs didn't seem much more comfortable with Snape than the Gryffindors.

Lyra looked towards Snape, who seemed to be watching her every move. He even completely missed a bludger being sent to him by George Weasley. As Lyra was looking towards Snape, she did a double take when she noticed a fleck of gold right below him.

She took off in a desperate dive. Snape looked shocked, and quickly dove out of the way as Lyra rocketed towards the space he had just occupied. When she rose from the dive, she had the Snitch grasped tightly in her hand.

The stands erupted. The game lasted only five minutes; the snitch had never been caught that quickly. Lyra couldn't believe it! She had won!

Lyra jumped off her broom and ran to where Ron, Harry, and Hermione were rushing to meet her.

"You did it, Lyra! You were amazing!" Harry yelled as he caught Lyra in a hug.

Lyra disentangled herself, and gasped in shock.

"Harry, Ron-what happened to your faces?"

They were covered in bruises, and Ron seemed to be nursing a nose bleed.

"Malfoy," was the only explanation Ron gave her.

Lyra felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up into Dumbledore's smiling face.

"Well done," said Dumbledore quietly, so that only Lyra could hear. "Nice to see you've been keeping busy and out of trouble...excellent..."

Lyra gave a nervous smile. For some reason, her father's warning about Dumbledore still came to mind whenever she saw him.

* * *

Harry offered to put the Nimbus Two Thousand away so Lyra could go straight to the common room. Fred and George were putting on a huge party in celebration. He was gone for a while, and Lyra was beginning to feel nervous. Finally, he burst in the common room and sped towards them.

"Harry, where have you been?" Hermione asked.

"Let's find an empty room, you wait 'til you hear this..."

Harry told them what he'd seen and heard Snape and Quirrell talking about in the Forbidden Forest.

"So we were right, it is the Sorcerer's Stone, and Snape's trying to force Quirrell to help him get it. He asked if he knew how to get past Fluffy - and he said something about Quirrell's 'hocus pocus'- I reckon there are other things guarding the stone apart from Fluffy, loads of enchantments, probably, and Quirrell would have done some anti-Dark Arts spell that Snape needs to break through-"

"So you mean the Stone's only safe as long as Quirrell stands up to Snape?" said Hermione in alarm.

"It'll be gone by next Tuesday," said Ron.

* * *

Harry, Ron, and Hermione seemed to obsess over the Stone over the next few weeks. Lyra still didn't want to believe that Snape would steal it. She concentrated on revising for exams with Hermione, and learning new defensive spells. She had already mastered the Shield Charm and the Disarming Charm.

Lyra wanted to learn how to cast more advanced spells, but she had to find someone to work with first. She approached the idea with Hermione, but the latter wanted to only study what was going to be on the exams. Lyra thought Harry might want to, but it turned out he was too busy with Quidditch to have any extra time.

Lyra was studying in the library one day when she saw an older boy perform a really cool spell on his watch to make it sing him the time. He caught her looking at him, and she ducked her head, blushing. He was very attractive.

She peered up at him again, and couldn't help herself.

"How did you do that?"

The boy smiled at her. "Oh, this? It's pretty easy. Want me to show you?"

"S-sure," Lyra responded.

He pointed his wand at her watch, did a few twirls with it, and incanted "Canto Tempus". Her watch started singing the time in a screechy soprano.

"Thanks!"

"No problem!"

After a few moments, the boy asked, "You're the Gryffindor seeker, aren't you?"

"I-I'm just a r-reserve," Lyra stuttered nervously.

"Well, you're very good. I'd say after that last capture, they'll be promoting you."

Lyra blushed. "Thanks! I'm Lyra by the way. Lyra Black."

The boy smiled at her. "Cedric Diggory. It's nice to meet you, Lyra."

* * *

Lyra was quickly becoming friends with Cedric. He was very nice, and he was willing to help her with the advanced spells she wanted to learn. Lyra discovered that Cedric was very smart. He taught her a bit of dueling, and helped her whenever she had a question about her homework. Lyra learned more from Cedric in a week than she had from Quirrell all year.

"So, why do you want to learn all this?" Cedric asked her one day. "It's just that most of us can't learn these spells until we're a lot older, but you pick up on them incredibly quickly."

"I'm just...ambitious, I suppose."

"Ambitious?" he laughed. "Shouldn't you be in Slytherin then?"

* * *

Lyra's life fell into a routine. Classes, homework, practice with Cedric, Quidditch, studying, sleep. She was always busy. It helped distract her from thinking about Brianna. The nightmares still haunted Lyra, but they weren't quite as painful anymore.

Lyra didn't realize how distant she was being from Ron, Harry, and Hermione until she overheard Ron one day on the way to Herbology.

"Hermione, how many times in our lives are we going to see a dragon hatching?"

Lyra tried to ask Harry what on Earth Ron had meant by that, but Malfoy was lurking behind them. She didn't get a chance to ask until after Herbology.

As they raced down to Hagrid's hut during morning break, Harry hurriedly explained about Hagrid hatching a dragon egg in his cabin.

"He does realize that his hut is made out of wood, doesn't he?" Lyra asked.

Hagrid greeted them, looking flushed and excited.

"It's nearly out." He ushered them inside.

The egg was lying on the table. There were deep cracks in it. Something was moving inside; a funny clicking noise was coming from it.

They all drew their chairs up to the table and watched with bated breath.

All at once there was a scraping noise and the egg split open. The baby dragon flopped onto the table.

It looked like a crumpled, black umbrella. Its spiny wings were huge compared to its skinny jet body, it had a long snout with wide nostrils, the stubs of horns and bulging, orange eyes.

It sneezed. A couple of sparks flew out of its snout.

"Isn't he beautiful?" Hagrid murmured. He reached out a hand to stroke the dragon's head. It snapped at his fingers, showing pointed fangs.

"Bless him, look, he knows his mommy!" said Hagrid.

"Hagrid," said Hermione, "how fast do Norwegian Ridgebacks grow, exactly?"

Hagrid was about to answer when the color suddenly drained from his face - he leapt to his feet and ran to the window.

"What's the matter?"

"Someone was lookin' through the gap in the curtains - it's a kid - he's runnin' back up ter the school."

Lyra bolted to the door and looked out. Even at a distance there was no mistaking him.

Malfoy had seen the dragon.


	11. Chapter 11

Over the next few weeks, Lyra kept her distance from the dragon. As much as she liked Hagrid, she thought it was wildly irresponsible of him to keep a dragon in his wooden hut. Her resolve strengthened when Ron came back one night nursing a bloody hand.

"It bit me!" he said, showing her his hand, which was wrapped in a bloody handkerchief. "I'm not going to be able to hold a quill for a week. I tell you, that dragon's the most horrible animal I've ever met, but the way Hagrid goes on about it, you'd think it was a fluffy little bunny rabbit. When it bit me he told me off for frightening it. And when I left, he was singing it a lullaby."

Lyra shook her head and returned to her book. Cedric had begun to teach her the theory behind Occlumency and Legilimency, and he gave her a very helpful book on it. It getting to be pretty late, so Lyra marked her place and bid goodnight to Ron.

A few days later Lyra got up early and went down for a breakfast. She glanced at the hourglasses that recorded House Points and had to do a double take. Gryffindor had lost over a hundred points, but that couldn't be right. Just last night they had been in the lead!

After a while, Harry and Ron finally showed up. They both looked sad and ashamed.

"Oh no," Lyra said. "Please tell me neither of you had anything to do with that?" she gestured at the hourglasses. "And please say it had nothing to do with that dragon?"

Both of them were silent. Hermione didn't even come down to breakfast.

* * *

People insulted Harry wherever he went. Lyra stood by him, and offered comforting words, but it seemed to do little to improve Harry's outlook.

Harry offered to resign Quidditch, but Wood chewed him out for even thinking about it. Harry seemed to start dreading practice, and Lyra couldn't blame him. She was the only one who talked to him, and the other team members were vocal in their opinion that Lyra deserved the Seeker position. Lyra always felt very uncomfortable whenever they said that.

Over the next few weeks, Hermione joined Lyra in the library more often since exams were coming up. Lyra revised some, but mostly she was researching advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Have you revised at all for the exams, Lyra?" Hermione asked her one day when she noticed Lyra reading _Advanced Curses and Counter-Curses_, instead of Quirrell's assigned textbook, _Beginner's Magical Theory_.

Lyra was saved from having to reply when Harry burst into the library, and flung himself down at their table. Madam Pince glared fiercely in their direction.

"I just overheard Quirrell in an unused classroom. I think he just told Snape how to get past his protection on the Stone," Harry explained. "Snape will be able to get it now."

"There's still Fluffy, though," said Hermione.

Harry suggested they fill Ron in, and get his opinion. They found him in the common room, and Harry explained what he had overheard. Lyra could see the light of adventure kindling again in Ron's eyes, but Hermione remained reasonable.

"We should go to Dumbledore," she said. "That's what we should have done ages ago. If we try anything ourselves we'll be thrown out for sure."

"But we've got no proof!" said Harry. "Quirrell's too scared to back us up. Snape's only got to say he doesn't know how the troll got in at Halloween and that he was nowhere near the third floor - who do you think they'll believe, him or us? It's not exactly a secret we hate him, Dumbledore will think we made it up to get him sacked. Filch wouldn't help us if his life depended on it, he's too friendly with Snape, and the more students get thrown out, the better, he'll think. And don't forget, we're not supposed to know about the Stone or Fluffy. That'll take a lot of explaining."

Hermione looked convinced, but Ron didn't.

"If we just do a bit of poking around -"

"No," said Harry flatly, "we've done enough poking around."

* * *

"You're doing good, Lyra, you just need to focus a bit more," Cedric told her for the umpteenth time. They had just begun Occlumency, and Lyra was terrible at it. She was quickly becoming frustrated, and she didn't like that Cedric was poking around in her head. By now he already knew all about Brianna and her true reasons for wanting his help. He didn't seem to mind she had lied to him though, and she was grateful when he said he supported her.

"Okay, maybe we're going about this the wrong way," Cedric suggested, sensing Lyra's frustration. "How about we take a break from Occlumency, and you can practice clearing your mind whenever you can."

Lyra was glad for an excuse not to continue with Occlumency.

Cedric taught her some more jinxes, and by the time they were finished it was getting late. Lyra thanked Cedric and bid him goodnight.

Ron was fast asleep in the common room when Lyra got there. She decided to curl up in one of the comfy armchairs by the fire. Lyra was quickly becoming drowsy. Her arm started tingling slightly, but she was too sleepy to notice.

After what seemed like only a few minutes, Lyra was awakened with Ron's shouts-something about Quidditch fouls. She looked up to see Hermione and Harry pale and shaking. Harry looked grave as he explained what had happened during their detention in the Forbidden Forest.

"Snape wants the stone for Voldemort... and Voldemort's waiting in the forest...and all this time we thought Snape just wanted to get rich..."

"Stop saying the name!" said Ron in a terrified whisper, as if he thought Voldemort could hear them.

Harry ignored Ron.

"Firenze saved me, but he shouldn't have done so... Bane was furious... he was talking about interfering with what the planets say is going to happen... They must show that Voldemort's coming back... Bane thinks Firenze should have let Voldemort kill me... I suppose that's written in the stars as well."

"Will you stop saying the name!" Ron hissed.

"So all I've got to wait for now is Snape to steal the Stone," Harry went on feverishly, "then Voldemort will be able to come and finish me off... Well, I suppose Bane'll be happy."

Hermione looked very frightened, but she had a word of comfort.

"Harry, everyone says Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was ever afraid of. With Dumbledore around, You-Know-Who won't touch you. Anyway, who says the centaurs are right? It sounds like fortune telling to me, and Professor McGonagall says that's a very imprecise branch of magic."

Lyra didn't know what to think about the centaurs' warnings. She shuddered at the thought of Voldemort being able to return.

* * *

At the end of the week, Lyra was very confident that she had done well on all of her exams. Even McGonagall complimented her on the beautiful snuffbox she produced for the practical portion of the Transfiguration exam.

The only exam Lyra had trouble with was History of Magic, mostly because she didn't care much about the subject. At the end of their last exam, Lyra headed down to the lake with Hermione, Ron, and Harry. She noticed that Harry had been looking pale the past week, and she guessed he was still upset by what happened in the forest.

Ron seemed oblivious. "You could look more cheerful, Harry, we've got a week before we find out how badly we've done, there's no need to worry yet," he said.

Harry was rubbing his forehead.

"I wish I knew what this means!" he burst out angrily. "My scar keeps hurting - it's happened before, but never as often as this."

"Go to Madam Pompfrey," Hermione suggested.

"I'm not ill," said Harry. "I think it's a warning...it means danger's coming..."

"Harry, relax," Ron said. "Hermione's right, the Stone's safe as long as Dumbledore's around. Anyway, we've never had any proof Snape found out how to get past Fluffy. He nearly had his leg ripped off once, he's not going to try it again in a hurry. And Neville will play Quidditch for England before Hagrid lets Dumbledore down."

"But Ron, if Voldemort is involved, well, wouldn't he know how to get past a Cerberus?" Lyra asked.

"Don't say his name, Lyra! It's bad luck!"

"Oh please-"

"What's a cerberus?" Hermione asked before Ron could get worked up.

"It's what Fluffy is," Lyra explained. "I looked it up in the library a few weeks ago, but the book didn't say how to get past one. I just figured that Vol-"

"DON'T SAY HIS NAME-"

"For goodness sakes, it's just a name Ron!" Lyra exclaimed.

Harry suddenly jumped to his feet.

"Where're you going?" Ron asked.

"I've just thought of something," said Harry. He had turned white. "We've got to go and see Hagrid, now."

"Why?" panted Hermione, hurrying to keep up.

"Don't you think it's a bit odd," said Harry, scrambling up the grassy slope, "that what Hagrid wants more than anything else is a dragon, and a stranger turns up who just happens to have an egg in his pocket? How many people wander around with dragon eggs if it's against wizard law? Lucky they found Hagrid, don't you think? Why didn't I see it before?"

"What are you talking about?" said Ron, but Harry, sprinting across the grounds toward the forest, didn't answer.

Hagrid was sitting in an armchair outside his house; his trousers and sleeves were rolled up, and he was shelling peas into a large bowl.

"Hullo," he said, smiling. "Finished yer exams? Got time fer a drink?"

"Yes, please," said Ron, but Harry cut him off.

"No, we're in a hurry. Hagrid, I've got to ask you something. You know that night you won Norbert? What did the stranger you were playing cards with look like?"

"Dunno," said Hagrid casually, "he wouldn' take his cloak off." He saw the three of them look stunned and raised his eyebrows.

"It's not that unusual, yeh get a lot o' funny folk in the Hog's Head - that's the pub down in the village. Mighta bin a dragon dealer, mightn' he? I never saw his face, he kept his hood up."

Harry sank down next to the bowl of peas. "What did you talk to him about, Hagrid? Did you mention Hogwarts at all?"

"Mighta come up," said Hagrid, frowning as he tried to remember. "Yeah...he asked what I did, an' I told him I was gamekeeper here...He asked a bit about the sorta creatures I took after...so I told him...an' I said what I'd always really wanted was a dragon...an' then...I can' remember too well, 'cause he kept buyin' me drinks...Let's see...yeah, then he said he had the dragon egg an' we could play cards fer it if I wanted...but he had ter be sure I could handle it, he didn' want it ter go ter any old home...So I told him, after Fluffy, a dragon would be easy..."

"And did he - did he seem interested in Fluffy?" Harry asked.

"Well - yeah - how many three-headed dogs d'yeh meet, even around Hogwarts? So I told him, Fluffy's a piece o' cake if yeh know how to calm him down, jus' play him a bit o' music an' he'll go straight off ter sleep -"

Hagrid suddenly looked horrified.

"I shouldn'ta told yeh that!" he blurted out. "Forget I said it! Hey - where're yeh goin'?"

Harry, Ron, Lyra, and Hermione didn't speak to each other at all until they came to a halt in the entrance hall.

"We've got to go to Dumbledore," said Harry. "Hagrid told that stranger how to get past Fluffy, and it was either Snape or Voldemort under that cloak - it must've been easy, once he'd got Hagrid drunk. I just hope Dumbledore believes us. Firenze might back us up if Bane doesn't stop him. Where's Dumbledore's office?"

The other three looked around as if they thought a sign would appear and point them in the right direction.

"I have an idea," Lyra said. "Cedric mentioned going to Dumbledore's office once, I could ask-"

"We are not involving Diggory," Ron stated vehemently.

"What do you have against Cedric?"

Ron was about to respond, but another voice rang out across the hall.

"What are you four doing inside?"

It was Professor McGonagall, carrying a large pile of books. Lyra silently groaned.

"We want to see Professor Dumbledore," said Hermione, rather bravely, Lyra thought.

"See Professor Dumbledore?" Professor McGonagall repeated, as though this was a very fishy thing to want to do. "Why?"

"It's sort of secret," Harry said. Lyra wished he hadn't, because Professor McGonagall's nostrils flared and she looked straight at Lyra.

"Professor Dumbledore left ten minutes ago," she said coldly. "He received an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic and flew off for London at once."

A sense of déjà vu swept over Lyra.

"He's gone?" said Harry frantically. "Now?"

"Professor Dumbledore is a very great wizard, Potter, he has many demands on his time -"

"But this is important."

"Something you have to say is more important than the Ministry of Magic, Potter?"

"Look," said Harry, throwing caution to the winds, "Professor - it's about the Sorcerer's Stone -"

Whatever Professor McGonagall had expected, it wasn't that. The books she was carrying tumbled out of her arms, but she didn't pick them up. "How do you know-?" she spluttered.

"Professor, I think - I know - that Sn - that someone's going to try to steal the Stone. I've got to talk to Professor Dumbledore."

She eyed him with a mixture of shock and suspicion.

"Professor Dumbledore will be back tomorrow," she said finally. I don't know how you found out about the Stone, but rest assured, no one can possibly steal it, it's too well protected."

"But Professor -"

"Potter, I know what I'm talking about," she said shortly. She bent down and gathered up the fallen books. "I suggest you all go back outside and enjoy the sunshine."

Lyra sighed, and turned to the others once McGonagall was out of earshot.

"You know, I'd sooner believe McGonagall was after the Stone than Snape."

The others looked at her like she had grown another head.

"What?" Ron spluttered.

"Never mind that," Harry said. "Whoever it is, they're going through the trapdoor tonight. They've found out everything they need, and now Dumbledore's out of the way. Snape sent that note, I bet the Ministry of Magic will get a real shock when Dumbledore turns up."

"But what can we -"

Hermione gasped. Harry, Lyra, and Ron wheeled round.

Snape was standing there.

"Good afternoon," he said smoothly.

They stared at him.

"You shouldn't be inside on a day like this," he said.

"We were -" Harry began.

"You want to be more careful," said Snape. "Hanging around like this, people will think you're up to something. And Gryffindor really can't afford to lose any more points, can it?"

They turned to go outside, but Snape called them back.

"Be warned, Potter - any more nighttime wanderings and I will personally make sure you are expelled. Good day to you."

He strode off in the direction of the staffroom. Out on the stone steps, Harry turned to the others.

"Right, here's what we've got to do," he whispered urgently. "One of us has got to keep an eye on Snape - wait outside the staff room and follow him if he leaves it. Lyra, you'd better do that."

"Why me?"

"It's obvious," said Ron. "You're the only Gryffindor Snape likes."

Lyra rolled her eyes and muttered "I still don't think it's him," under her breath. Nonetheless, she went to stake out the staffroom. No sooner had she gotten there, Snape came striding out. His eyes narrowed slightly when he saw her.

"Is there something you need, Miss Black?"

"I-uh-no, sir. Well, yes. I was just wondering how I did on the Potions exam. I thought I might have made a few mistakes..." Lyra trailed off. It was obvious Snape wasn't buying it.

"You got a perfect score, Miss Black. The first student ever to receive one on my first year exam, I might add. Now I suggest you get back to your common room."

Lyra brightened. "Thank you sir."

When Lyra got back to the common room, she found Harry, Ron, and Hermione already there. She guessed their stake out of the third floor corridor entrance didn't work out any better than her's did.

"Well, that's it then, isn't it?" Harry said after Lyra told them that Snape caught her.

"I'm going out of here tonight and I'm going to try to get to the Stone first."

"You're mad!" said Ron.

"You can't!" said Hermione.

"Can I come with you, Harry?" said Lyra at once.

"But-but-you'll be expelled!" Hermione wailed.

"SO WHAT?" Harry shouted. "Don't you understand? If Snape gets hold of the Stone, Voldemort's coming back! Haven't you heard what it was like when he was trying to take over? There won't be any Hogwarts to get expelled from! He'll flatten it, or turn it into a school for the Dark Arts! Losing points doesn't matter anymore, can't you see? D'you think he'll leave you and your families alone if Gryffindor wins the house cup? If I get caught before I can get to the Stone, well, I'll have to go back to the Dursleys and wait for Voldemort to find me there, it's only dying a bit later than I would have, because I'm never going over to the Dark Side! I'm going through that trapdoor tonight and nothing you say is going to stop me! Voldemort killed my parents, remember?"

He glared at them.

You're right Harry," said Hermione in a small voice.

"I'll use the invisibility cloak," said Harry. "It's lucky I got it back."

"But will it cover all four of us?" said Ron.

"All - all four of us?"

"Oh, come off it, you don't think we'd let you go alone?"

"Of course not," said Hermione briskly. "How do you think you'd get to the Stone without us? I'd better go and took through my books, there might be something useful. Lyra, can you show us some of the things Cedric's been teaching you?"

"Of course! Although, we will be pressed for time..."

"But if we get caught, you three will be expelled, too," Harry said.

"Not if I can help it," said Lyra grimly. "Snape told me in secret that I was the first student to get a perfect score on his exam. They're not throwing me out after that."

* * *

**Author's Note: Next chapter will be up tomorrow night. Sorry this one's not very exciting, but the next few will be :)**


	12. Chapter 12

Lyra took them to the unused classroom she frequently practiced in with Cedric. She taught them a few curses and counter-curses. She didn't have time to teach them much, but she hoped it would help some.

After dinner the four of them sat nervously apart in the common room. Nobody bothered them; none of the Gryffindors had anything to say to Harry any more. This was the first night he didn't seem upset by it. Lyra and Hermione were skimming through all library books, hoping to come across one of the enchantments they were about to try to break.

Slowly, the room emptied as people drifted off to bed.

"Better get the cloak," Ron muttered, as Lee Jordan finally left, stretching and yawning.

Harry ran up to the dormitories, and came back with his Invisibility Cloak.

"We'd better put the cloak on here, and make sure it covers all four of us - if Filch spots one of our feet wandering along on its own -"

"What are you doing?" said a voice from the corner of the room. Neville appeared from behind an armchair, clutching Trevor the toad, who looked as though he'd been making another bid for freedom.

"Nothing, Neville, nothing," said Harry, hurriedly putting the cloak behind his back.

Neville stared at their guilty faces. "You're going out again," he said.

"No, no, no," said Hermione. "No, we're not. Why don't you go to bed, Neville?"

"You can't go out," said Neville, "you'll be caught again. Gryffindor will be in even more trouble."

"Neville," Ron exploded, "get away from that hole and don't be an idiot -"

"Don't you call me an idiot!" said Neville. "I don't think you should be breaking any more rules! And you were the one who told me to stand up to people!"

"Yes, but not to us," said Ron in exasperation. "Neville, you don't know what you're doing."

"Neville, please!" Lyra begged. "This really is important!"

Neville glared at Lyra, and she saw a fleeting spasm of fear cross his face before he took on an even more determined expression. She gulped. She didn't want to have to do this, but they were wasting time.

Lyra stepped forward.

"Neville," she said, "I'm really, really sorry about this." She raised her wand.

"Petrificus Totalus!" she cried, pointing it at Neville.

Neville's arms snapped to his sides. His legs sprang together. His whole body rigid, he swayed where he stood and then fell flat on his face, stiff as a board.

Lyra ran to turn him over. Neville's jaws were jammed together so he couldn't speak. Only his eyes were moving, looking at them in horror.

"What've you done to him?" Harry whispered.

"It's the full Body-Bind," said Lyra miserably. "Oh, Neville, I'm so sorry."

"We had to, Neville, no time to explain," said Harry.

"You'll understand later, Neville," said Ron as they stepped over him and pulled on the invisibility cloak.

Lyra lingered for a moment, looking down at Neville. She felt awful for hurting him, knowing all the pain her mother had caused him by torturing his parents.

"I'm not like her," she whispered half-heartedly to Neville. She could see the anger and fear in his eyes, and it made her feel even worse. Eventually, Lyra hurried out the portrait hole after Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

* * *

They made it to the third floor with only a minor setback from Peeves. Fortunately Harry scared him away by pretending to be the Bloody Baron. When they got to the forbidden corridor, the door was already ajar.

"Well, there you are," Harry said quietly, "Snape's already got past Fluffy."

Seeing the open door somehow seemed to impress upon all four of them what was facing them. Underneath the cloak, Harry turned to them.

"If you want to go back, I won't blame you," he said. "You can take the cloak, I won't need it now."

"Don't be stupid," said Ron.

"We're coming with you," said Lyra.

Harry pushed the door open.

As the door creaked, low, rumbling growls met their ears. All three of the dog's noses sniffed madly in their direction, even though it couldn't see them.

Harry turned to Hermione and Lyra.

"Do either of you fancy singing it to sleep?"

Hermione began shaking her head vehemently, so Harry turned to Lyra with a pleading look.

Lyra sighed, and began singing a lullaby she used to sing to Brandon years ago. She thought it was depressing, but Brandon requested at least once a week, so it was the only one that stuck in her head.

_"Oh, my darling, oh, my darling  
Oh, my darling Clementine  
You are lost and gone forever  
Dreadful sorry, Clementine_

_Drove she ducklings to the water  
Every morning just at nine  
Hit her foot against a splinter  
Fell into the foaming brine_

_Ruby lips above the water  
Blowing bubbles soft and fine  
But alas, I was no swimmer  
So I lost my Clementine"_

From the first note the beast's eyes began to droop. Slowly, the dog's growls ceased - it tottered on its paws and fell to its knees, then it slumped to the ground, fast asleep.

"Keep singing," Harry warned Lyra as they slipped out of the cloak and crept toward the trapdoor.

_"There's a churchyard on the hillside  
Where the flowers grow and twine  
There grow roses, 'mongst the posies  
Fertilized by Clementine_

_In my dreams she still doth haunt me  
Robed in garlands soaked in brine  
Though in life I used to hug her  
Now she's dead, I draw the line"_

"I think we'll be able to pull the door open," said Ron, peering over the dog's back.

Ron stepped carefully over the dog's legs. He bent and pulled the ring of the trapdoor, which swung up and open.

"What can you see?" Hermione said anxiously.

"Nothing - just black - there's no way of climbing down, we'll just have to drop."

Harry climbed over the dog and looked down through the trapdoor. He lowered himself through the hole until he was hanging on by his fingertips. Then he looked up and said, "If anything happens to me, don't follow. Go straight to the Owlery and send Hedwig to Dumbledore, right?"

"Right," said Ron.

"See you in a minute, I hope..."

_"Oh, my darling, oh, my darling  
Oh, my darling Clementine  
You are lost and gone forever  
Dreadful sorry, Clementine"_

After a few moments, Harry's voice called up to them.

"It's okay! It's a soft landing, you can jump!"

Ron and Hermione disappeared into the trapdoor.

"Come on, Lyra!"

She stopped singing and approached the trapdoor cautiously. The dog started growling again, so she quickly jumped and landed on something squishy.

"We must be miles under the school," she said.

"Lucky this plant thing's here, really," said Ron.

"Lucky!" shrieked Lyra. "Look at you both!"

She leapt up and struggled toward a damp wall. She had to struggle because the moment she had landed, the plant had started to twist snakelike tendrils around her ankles. As for Harry and Ron, their legs had already been bound tightly in long creepers without their noticing.

Hermione also managed to free herself, and stood next to Lyra by the wall. They watched in horror as the two boys fought to pull the plant off them, but the more they strained against it, the tighter and faster the plant wound around them.

"Stop moving!" Hermione ordered them. "I know what this is - it's Devil's Snare!"

Lyra blinked, and tried to remember what Professor Sprout told them about Devil's Snare. Something about sulking in sunlight, she thought.

"Fire!" Lyra cried. "We have to light a fire!"

"Yes - of course - but there's no wood!" Hermione cried, wringing her hands.

"HAVE YOU GONE MAD?" Ron bellowed. "ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT?"

"Oh, right!" said Hermione, and she whipped out her wand, waved it, muttered something, and sent a jet of the same bluebell flames she had used on Snape at the plant. In a matter of seconds, it unraveled itself from the boys' bodies, and they were able to pull free.

"Lucky you pay attention in Herbology, Lyra," said Harry as he joined her by the wall, wiping sweat off his face.

"Yeah," said Ron, "and lucky Harry doesn't lose his head in a crisis - 'there's no wood,' honestly."

Hermione started grumbling, but Ron turned his attention to Lyra.

"What were singing back there? It sounded creepy." Ron asked.

"A lullaby I learned at the orphanage..."

"A lullaby? That song would give me nightmares if I were a kid," he shuddered.

Harry was ignoring them and walking down a stone passageway that was the only way forward.

All they could hear apart from their footsteps was the gentle drip of water trickling down the walls.

They reached the end of the passageway and saw before them a brilliantly lit chamber, its ceiling arching high above them. It was full of small, jewel-bright birds, fluttering and tumbling all around the room. On the opposite side of the chamber was a heavy wooden door.

"Do you think they'll attack us if we cross the room?" asked Ron.

"Probably," said Harry. "They don't look very vicious, but I suppose if they all swooped down at once...well, there's no other choice...I'll run."

Harry took a deep breath, covered his face with his arms, and sprinted across the room. Nothing happened. He reached the door, and pulled the handle, but it was locked. They tugged and heaved at the door, but it wouldn't budge, not even when Hermione tried her Alohomora charm.

"Now what?" asked Ron.

"These birds...they can't be here just for decoration," said Hermione.

"They're not birds!" Harry said suddenly. "They're keys! Winged keys - look carefully.

"So that must mean...yes - look! Broomsticks! We've got to catch the key to the door!"

"We're looking for a big, old-fashioned one - probably silver, like the handle," Lyra said.

Ron, Lyra, and Harry seized a broomstick and kicked off into the air, soaring into the midst of the cloud of keys. They grabbed and snatched, but the bewitched keys darted and dived so quickly it was almost impossible to catch one.

After a minute's weaving about through the whirl of rainbow feathers, Harry called out.

"That one! That big one-there-no, there-with bright blue wings-the feathers are all crumpled on one side."

Ron went speeding in the direction that Harry was pointing, crashed into the ceiling, and nearly fell off his broom.

"We've got to close in on it!" Harry called, not taking his eyes off the key with the damaged wing.

"Ron, you come at it from above - Lyra, stay below and stop it from going down and I'll try and catch it. Right, NOW!"

Ron dived, Lyra rocketed upward, the key dodged them both, and Harry streaked after it; it sped toward the wall, Harry leaned forward and with a nasty, crunching noise, pinned it against the stone with one hand. Hermione's cheers echoed around the high chamber.

They landed quickly, and Harry ran to the door, the key struggling in his hand. He rammed it into the lock and turned - it worked. The moment the lock had clicked open, the key took flight again, looking very battered now that it had been caught twice.

"Ready?" Harry asked them, his hand on the door handle. They nodded. He pulled the door open.

The next chamber was so dark they couldn't see anything at all. But as they stepped into it, light suddenly flooded the room to reveal an astonishing sight.

They were standing on the edge of a huge chessboard, behind the black chessmen, which were all taller than they were and carved from what looked like black stone. Facing them, way across the chamber, were the white pieces. Lyra shivered slightly - the towering white chessmen had no faces.

"Now what do we do?" Harry whispered.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" said Ron. "We've got to play our way across the room."

"This needs thinking about," he said, "I suppose we've got to take the place of four of the black pieces..."

Lyra stayed quiet, watching Ron think. Finally he said, "Now, don't be offended or anything, but none of you are that good at chess -"

"We're not offended," said Harry quickly. "Just tell us what to do."

"Well, Harry, you take the place of that bishop, and Hermione, you go next to him instead of that castle. Lyra, you replace the queen."

"What about you?"

"I'm going to be a knight," said Ron.

The chessmen seemed to have been listening, because at these words the queen, a knight, a bishop, and a castle turned their backs on the white pieces and walked off the board, leaving four empty squares that Lyra, Harry, Ron, and Hermione took.

"White always plays first in chess," said Ron, peering across the board. "Yes... look..."

A white pawn had moved forward two squares.

Ron started to direct the black pieces. They moved silently wherever he sent them.

Every time one of their men was lost, the white pieces showed no mercy. Soon there was a huddle of limp black players slumped along the wall. Twice, Ron only just noticed in time that Harry, Lyra, or Hermione were in danger. He himself darted around the board, taking almost as many white pieces as they had lost black ones.

"We're nearly there," he muttered suddenly. "Let me think, let me think..."

The white queen turned her blank face toward him.

"Yes..." said Ron softly, "It's the only way... I've got to be taken."

"NO!"

"That's chess!" snapped Ron. "You've got to make some sacrifices! I take one step forward and she'll take me - that leaves you free to checkmate the king, Harry!"

"But -"

"Do you want to stop Snape or not?"

"Ron -"

"Look, if you don't hurry up, he'll already have the Stone!"

There was no alternative.

"Ready?" Ron called, his face pale but determined. "Here I go. Now, don't hang around once you've won."

He stepped forward, and the white queen pounced. She struck Ron hard across the head with her stone arm, and he crashed to the floor. Hermione screamed but stayed on her square-the white queen dragged Ron to one side. He looked as if he'd been knocked out.

Shaking, Harry moved three spaces to the left.

The white king took off his crown and threw it at Harry's feet. They had won. The chessmen parted and bowed, leaving the door ahead clear. With one last desperate look back at Ron, they charged through the door and up the next passageway.

"What if he's-?"

"He'll be all right," said Harry, trying to convince himself. "What do you reckon's next?"

"We've had Sprout's, that was the Devil's Snare; Flitwick must've put charms on the keys; McGonagall transfigured the chessmen to make them alive; that leaves Quirrell's spell, and Snape's."

The next chamber contained a troll that had already been knocked out.

"I'm glad we didn't have to fight that one," Harry whispered as they stepped carefully over one of its massive legs. "Come on, I can't breathe."

He pulled open the next door. There was a table with seven differently shaped bottles standing on it in a line.

"Snape's," said Harry. "What do we have to do?"

They stepped over the threshold, and immediately a purple fire sprang up behind them in the doorway. At the same instant, black flames shot up in the doorway leading onward. They were trapped.

"Look!" Hermione seized a roll of paper lying next to the bottles. Harry looked over her shoulder to read it:

_Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,  
Two of us will help you, which ever you would find,  
One among us seven will let you move ahead,  
Another will transport the drinker back instead,  
Two among our number hold only nettle wine,  
Three of us are killers, waiting bidden in line.  
Choose, unless you wish to stay here forevermore,  
To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four: _

_First, however slyly the poison tries to hide  
You will always find some on nettle wine's left side; _

_Second, different are those who stand at either end,  
But if you would move onward, neither is your friend; _

_Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,  
Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;  
Fourth, the second left and the second on the right  
Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight._

"Brilliant," said Hermione. "This isn't magic - it's logic - a puzzle. A lot of the greatest wizards haven't got an ounce of logic, they'd be stuck in here forever."

"But so will we, won't we?"

"Of course not," said Hermione. "Everything we need is here on this paper. Seven bottles: three are poison; two are wine; one will get us safely through the black fire, and one will get us back through the purple."

"But how do we know which to drink?"

"Give me a minute."

Hermione read the paper several times. Then she walked up and down the line of bottles, muttering to herself and pointing at them. At last, she clapped her hands.

"Got it," she said. "The smallest bottle will get us through the black fire - toward the Stone."

Harry looked at the tiny bottle.

"There's only enough there for one of us," he said. "That's hardly one swallow."

They looked at each other.

"Which one will get you back through the purple flames?" Hermione pointed at a rounded bottle at the right end of the line.

"You drink that, Hermione" said Harry. "No, listen, go back and get Ron. Grab brooms from the flying-key room, they'll get you out of the trapdoor and past Fluffy - go straight to the owlery and send Hedwig to Dumbledore, we need him. I might be able to hold Snape off for a while, but I'm no match for him, really."

Harry then looked at Lyra apologetically.

"Lyra, you'll have to stay here. Snape will have to come back through this room, and you can probably hold him off somehow. He likes you, so use that against him if you have to."

"But Harry - what if You-Know-Who's with him?" Hermione asked.

"Well - I was lucky once, wasn't I?" said Harry, pointing at his scar. "I might get lucky again."

Hermione's lip trembled, and she suddenly dashed at Harry and threw her arms around him.

"Hermione!"

"Harry - you're a great wizard, you know."

"I'm not as good as you," said Harry, as she let go of him.

"Me!" said Hermione. "Books! And cleverness! There are more important things - friendship and bravery and - oh Harry - be careful!"

"You drink first," said Harry. "You are sure which is which, aren't you?"

"Positive," said Hermione. She took a long drink from the round bottle at the end, and shuddered.

"It's not poison?" said Harry anxiously.

"No - but it's like ice."

"Quick, go, before it wears off."

"Good luck - take care."

"GO!"

Hermione turned and walked straight through the purple fire.

Lyra turned to Harry. "You really are a great wizard, Harry," she choked out. "But an even better friend."

Harry surprised her by wrapping her in a hug as well. "Be safe, Lyra," he whispered before giving her a quick kiss on her cheek. Lyra blushed, but Harry missed it as he turned and drank the contents of the smallest bottle.

"Good luck, Harry," she whispered as her best friend disappeared through the black flames.


	13. Chapter 13

Lyra paced restlessly in front of the black flames. She was beginning to feel like it had been a terrible idea to let Harry go on alone. She looked at the flames that were blocking the last chamber.

Lyra searched her mind for any information on black flames and came up blank. She tried the water summoning spell, '_Aguamenti'_, but that did nothing.

Lyra heard shouting from within the chamber. At the thought of possibly letting another friend die, Lyra lost her head completely. She decided to use the Reductor Curse on the wall that separated the two chambers.

"Reducto!"

The blast was loud. Lyra was thrown backwards as chunks of stone exploded everywhere. She slowly got to her feet. Her head was throbbing, and she felt something sticky running down the side of her face. She inspected the aftermath of the curse. It made a hole in the wall that was just big enough for her to squeeze through into the last chamber.

* * *

A scream caught in Lyra's throat at the sight that awaited her.

The first thing she saw was a face with glaring red eyes and slits for nostrils, like a snake. Voldemort. On the back of Professor Quirrell's head. Lyra felt a fleeting moment of smugness when she realized that she had been right about it not being Snape, but then it fully hit her that Voldemort was there. On the back of Professor Quirrell's head.

Her head was spinning, but she wasn't sure if that was from the blast, or because the world suddenly made no sense anymore.

"Lyra?" Harry stared incredulously at her. He was standing across from the Voldemort-Quirrell thing looking terrified, but determined at the same time.

Voldemort was staring at Lyra with an indecipherable expression. Lyra felt a familiar tingling on her left arm. She wondered why she kept feeling it, but she was promptly distracted when Voldemort began to speak in a horrible high-pitched hissing.

"What an entrance..." he hissed, "What are you doing here?"

Lyra mustered up every ounce of Gryffindor courage as she made her way to Harry's side.

"If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to get through me first!" she shouted.

Voldemort looked at her for a moment, and burst into cold, cruel laughter.

"How touching," it snarled. "And...poetic. My own daughter willing to die for the one who brought about my downfall."

"Your _daughter_?" Harry shouted.

"You-wait, what?" Lyra spluttered. "You can't be-it's not possible-" Her mind had gone completely blank with shock and denial.

Voldemort laughed. "I told you in the letter, my dear, that I would reveal myself to you. I had hoped it would be after I returned to my full strength, but I suppose now is as good a time as any. There is still so much you don't know, my dear. Now we can be reunited, and you will know everything."

"You're lying. You're not-You can't be-"

Voldemort glared at her. "I have no reason to lie, dear Lyra. I _am_ your father. Bellatrix was my most faithful servant. When I told her I needed an heir, she divorced her idiot husband, and we had you. It is my locket you wear, an heirloom of Slytherin himself."

Lyra felt like she was punched in the stomach. Was it not enough to have a psychotic mother, she had to have the most evil wizard to ever walk the earth as her father? What had she done to deserve all this?

"It is a good thing you are here, actually," Voldemort continued. "Perhaps you can persuade your _friend_ here to hand over the Stone," he said gesturing to Harry.

Harry took a step back, and shook his head.

"Don't you want to be reunited with your family, Lyra?" Voldemort asked her. "Together, we can break your mother out of Azkaban, and be a proper family again. I can give you everything you have ever wanted, and more. I can give you your most desperate desire."

Lyra noticed the huge mirror that stood behind him. The Mirror of Erised.

"You could-you would bring Brianna back?"

Harry spoke up from behind her. "No Lyra! He's lying! He can't bring her back, nothing can bring Brianna back!"

Voldemort turned his attention back to Harry. "So brave, Potter...just like your mother. Now give me the Stone, unless you want her to have died in vain."

"NEVER!"

Harry sprang toward the flame door, but Voldemort screamed "SEIZE HIM!"

"NO!" Lyra shouted, and pointed her wand at Quirrell.

"Incarcerous!"

Quirrell leapt out of the way of her conjured ropes, and grabbed Harry's wrist. Both of them screamed out in pain.

"Seize him! SEIZE HIM!" shrieked Voldemort again, and Quirrell lunged, knocking Harry clean off his feet, landing on top of him, both hands around Harry's neck.

"Stupefy!" Lyra shouted, but Quirrell raised his wand and deflected it. Suddenly, he looked at his hands, and howled in agony.

"Master, I cannot hold him - my hands - my hands!"

Lyra noticed huge blisters forming where his skin had contacted Harry's.

"Then kill him, fool, and be done!" screeched Voldemort.

Quirrell raised his hand to perform a deadly curse. Lyra acted on instinct. She raised her wand towards Quirrell.

"FLIPENDO!" she screamed, at the same time that Harry reached up and grabbed Quirrell's face.

"AAAARGH!"

Quirrell was blasted backwards by Lyra's jinx, his face blistering.

Harry jumped to his feet, caught Quirrell by the arm, and hung on as tight as he could. Quirrell screamed and tried to throw Harry off while Voldemort yelled "KILL HIM! KILL HIM!"

"Harry!" Lyra cried.

The door to the chamber burst open. It was Dumbledore. He didn't show any surprise or fear, but walked straight up to Harry and yanked Quirrell off of him.

Quirrell reached out, but he only got a few steps. Right before their eyes, Quirrell seemed to disintegrate and crumble away into nothingness. It was a gruesome sight. Only a pile of ashes remained.

Lyra took a steadying breath. "Is it-is he gone?"

As soon as she spoke, a dark cloud rose up from Quirrell's ashes and formed a furious face. Lyra jumped back in fear. The face screeched in frustration and fled out the door, out of sight.

Dumbledore looked more grave than she had ever seen him.

"Follow me, Lyra. Keep close. We need to get Harry to the Madam Pompfrey as quickly as possible."

Lyra nodded, and even though she felt like collapsing from exhaustion, she quickly followed Dumbledore as he strode from chamber to chamber. Lyra had to run to keep up with his long strides, and she was relieved when they finally got to the flying-key room. She grabbed a broom, following Dumbledore's lead. They set off up through the Devil's Snare room, and out the trapdoor. Fluffy was fast asleep with an enchanted flute playing softly in the corner.

Once they were finally out in the third floor corridor, Dumbledore produced what looked like a great silvery bird from his wand.

"Tell Poppy that a student is gravely injured, and needs to be seen straight away," he told the bird. It took off down the corridor.

"Professor-"

"There's no time for questions right now, Lyra."

She stayed silent as they made their way to the Hospital Wing.

Madam Pomfrey was ready for them when they arrived, and quickly took Harry from Dumbledore's arms, setting him down on the nearest bed. She examined him, muttering under her breath the whole time.

"Well?" Dumbledore inquired.

"He will be fine. Needs rest, and something for these cuts, but he will make a full recovery."

Lyra breathed a sigh of relief. She just now noticed Ron and Hermione sleeping soundly on the other side of the Hospital Wing.

"Is Ron going to be alright?" she asked.

Madam Pomfrey looked up and seemed to just notice Lyra.

"My goodness! What happened to you? Come here, let me fix you up. Your friends will be fine."

Madam Pomfrey smeared a strange smelling paste onto Lyra's face where the exploding stone had scraped her, and then she gave her a strong sleeping drought. Lyra didn't mind. She was happy to completely forget the past few hours.

Before she fell asleep, Lyra looked over at Harry and wondered what he would think of her now. She heard Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey conversing in low voices on the other side of the Hospital Wing. Lyra closed her eyes, trying not to think of anything. It all seemed so surreal, she just wanted to forget it all.

* * *

Sunlight was steadily streaming through the Hospital Wing's windows when Lyra woke up. It looked to be about mid-afternoon from what she could tell. The sleeping drought Madam Pomfrey had given her must have been stronger than Lyra thought. She slowly sat up, and looked around. Ron and Hermione were no longer there, but Harry was still unconscious in the bed beside her. He had a huge pile of sweets beside him and, strangely, a toilet seat.

The Hospital Wing doors opened, and Dumbledore came in.

"Ah! You're awake!" he said, looking much more cheerful than he had the night before.

Lyra didn't share his good spirits.

"You knew...didn't you? That-that _monster_-was-is my father?"

Dumbledore sighed, and took a seat beside her bed.

"I...had my suspicions. I was trying to protect you, Lyra, and I know that's the last thing you want to hear, but-"

"But what? You should have told me!"

"I know you are upset and angry, and I'm sorry you had to find out the way you did. I never wanted that. You're so young, and I wanted to spare you from all of this-"

Lyra was nearly hysterical. "But-this means I'm supposed to be evil, doesn't it?"

"No, of course not, Lyra! Do not think that you have to be like him. You need to focus on how you are different."

"What do you mean?"

"Your compassion, Lyra. Your bravery and your love for your friends. It is what sets you apart from your parents. Voldemort will never understand love, as shown by the agony he feels when touching Harry. You, however, are able to love. You risked expulsion for Brianna, and nearly died for Harry. Not many eleven-year-olds would do that for a friend."

Lyra looked over at Harry. "Well, I doubt he'll want anything to do with me now," she said morosely. "My father killed his parents after all."

"Don't think so little of Harry. I don't think he would hold something your father did against you."

There was an awkward silence, then-

"Sir, what about the Stone?"

"It has been destroyed."

"Destroyed?" said Lyra blankly.

"Yes, it was for the best. You know, the Stone was really not such a wonderful thing. As much money and life as you could want! The two things most human beings would choose above all - the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them."

Lyra was lost for words.

"Sir, there are some other things I'd like to know, if you can tell me... things I want to know the truth about..."

"The truth." Dumbledore sighed. "It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution. However, I'll try to answer your questions if I can."

"Was there anyone else you told your...suspicions to?"

Dumbledore looked a bit ashamed.

"Ah, yes. I'm afraid I did, and I'm afraid it was perhaps a mistake."

"I knew there had to be a reason McGonagall hated me so much," Lyra said bitterly.

"_Professor_ McGonagall doesn't hate you. She was a bit...suspicious of you, and, I admit, she was not entirely fair to you before Christmas. I have had words with her since, and she has promised to not hold your parents' actions against you."

"What about Professor Snape?" Lyra suddenly asked.

"What about him?"

"Why is he so nice to me? He doesn't like other Gryffindors..."

"I am surprised he has not told you. When you were born, Severus was appointed as your Godfather."

"But-how did he know my parents?"

"That is something you need to speak with him about, I'm afraid."

"But did he know that Voldemort is my father?"

"No, I don't believe he did...Are there any other questions you have?"

Lyra shook her head.

Dumbledore stood up, and made his way to the door. "Now if you'll excuse me, I believe I should inform Poppy that there is a toilet seat in her Hospital Wing. Good day." And with that, Dumbledore left.

After a few minutes, Madam Pomfrey came rushing in, and quickly levitated the toilet seat out of the infirmary. Lyra took advantage of her flustered state, and took off towards the Gryffindor tower.

She soon found Ron and Hermione sitting by the fire. They jumped up when they saw her.

"Lyra! Are you okay? What happened?" Ron asked immediately.

"Ron!" Hermione scolded. "Professor Dumbledore told us not to pester either of them with questions!"

"No, it's okay," Lyra said. She gave them a short summary of what happened, leaving out that Voldemort revealing himself as her father. She wasn't ready for anyone to know that yet.

"I don't know, it must have happened before I blasted the wall out of the way," she admitted when they asked how Harry got the Stone.

"You-you _blasted_ a wall out of the way?" Hermione said looking scandalized.

"Bloody brilliant!" exclaimed Ron.

* * *

Lyra had just taken a long, relaxing shower, and was returning to the common room when Oliver Wood approached her.

"Sorry to have to spring this on you so quickly, Black, but I'm going to need you to play seeker Saturday if Harry hasn't recovered by then."

"Oh-um, sure. That's fine."

Quidditch wasn't high on the list of Lyra's priorities, but she knew Wood wouldn't accept 'no' for an answer.

After Wood left to devise new beater tactics with the Weasley twins, Lyra spotted Neville playing Wizard's Chess with Seamus over by the fire. She decided she should apologize for body-binding him.

"Neville?" she said when she approached them. He looked up, startled, and stared at her warily.

"I-um-can I talk to you for a moment?" Lyra stuttered.

Neville simply nodded, and followed her to a deserted corner of the common room.

"Listen, Neville," she started. "I'm really really sorry for body-binding you, and I know you probably hate me right now-"

"I don't hate you, Lyra," Neville said, "Ron and Hermione already told me everything. I understand, and-I think you were all really brave."

"You do?"

"Yeah! And _I'm_ sorry for trying to stop the four of you."

Lyra smiled. "Don't be sorry. You were trying to do the right thing, and standing up to us must have taken a lot of bravery."

Neville suddenly looked a bit uncomfortable. "Lyra, there was something else I wanted to ask you about. When the others had left you said-well, what exactly did you mean by 'I'm not like her'.

"My mother," Lyra said quietly. "I meant that I'm not like my mother. I-I found out what she did-to your parents..."

"Oh," Neville replied. He looked even more uncomfortable, so Lyra quickly changed the subject.

"Neville, would you, by any chance, be interested in learning the Full Body-Bind Spell?"

Neville was enthusiastic about learning the spell, so Lyra took him to her makeshift practice room for a few hours. He had trouble with it at first, but he was determined to learn it, so Lyra promised to keep working on it with him over the next few days.

* * *

There was another person Lyra knew she needed to talk to, and she had a feeling it could be an awkward conversation. Therefore, it was with great reluctance that Lyra made her to the dungeons and knocked on the door to Professor Snape's office.

When Snape opened the door, he seemed surprised to see her.

"Miss Black?"

"I know you're my Godfather," Lyra stated bluntly.

Snape blinked.

"That meddling old man," he muttered under his breath. He beckoned Lyra into his office, and closed the door.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Lyra demanded at once. "Why did you ignore me for eleven years?"

Snape took a seat behind his desk, and gestured to the chair opposite him. Lyra flung herself impatiently into the chair.

Snape sighed. "Please try to understand. Your mother hid you well. I looked for you after the Dark Lord disappeared, but no one had any idea what had happened to you. Andromeda didn't even know you existed, and Narcissa only saw you once when you were just born. After a few months, I assumed you were dead. Imagine my surprise when your name was called at the Sorting ceremony. I kept an eye on you, and you seemed to be doing well, making friends in Gryffindor. I decided not to tell you, because I thought you would be happier not knowing-"

"You sound like Dumbledore. I'm tired of people keeping things from me for my own 'protection'," Lyra snapped.

Snape seemed genuinely apologetic. "I'm sorry. I should have told you."

Lyra told herself to calm down. She still wanted to know why Snape had been named her Godfather.

"Were you one of Voldemort's followers?"

Snape jumped, and looked at her incredulously.

"Why would you ask such a thing?"

Lyra shrugged. "Why else would he name you as my Godfather?"

At this Snape really looked surprised, even a bit frightened.

"Do you mean-are you saying that-the _Dark Lord_ is your _father_?"

"Yes... I thought you would have known... Did you know my mother, then?"

Snape seemed to recover a bit. "Yes. I was a spy for Dumbledore during the war, and I became close with Bellatrix. She was completely deranged, but she had valuable information that Dumbledore was after, so I had to gain her trust. I played my part well, and she must have truly trusted me to name me your Godfather."

"So...you were just pretending?"

"Yes...but that doesn't mean I don't care about _you_. After your mother was sent to Azkaban, I did everything I could think of to find you, Lyra."

She looked up at Snape, and felt hope that maybe, for the first time, there may be an adult that actually cared about her. An adult that would take her seriously, and be there for her.

Snape's voice took on a gentle tone. "Now I understand you currently live in an orphanage, and...well, I understand if you have grown fond of the place...but if you were ever looking for another home..."

Lyra was stunned. "You mean I can live with you? Leave the orphanage?" she asked incredulously.

"Of course, I thought you wouldn't want to," said Snape quickly. "I understand, I just thought I'd-"

"Of course I want to leave the orphanage!" Lyra said excitedly.

"You want to?" he said. "You mean it?"

"Yeah, I mean it!" said Lyra.

Snape's face broke into the first true smile Lyra had seen upon it. He quickly composed himself, and just a moment later he was back to his usual impassive self.

"Well-in that case-I shall speak with Dumbledore, and make the necessary arrangements. You may have to return to the orphanage for a few weeks at the beginning of the summer. The Ministry will have to approve the transfer of guardianship..."

Lyra was ecstatic that she wouldn't have to stay at the orphanage all summer. Even though she had tried to make the best of it growing up, Lyra didn't think she could stand being back there without Brianna. It wouldn't feel right.

Lyra quickly said goodbye, and Snape ushered her out of his office. She decided to go find Ron and see what he thought of her new living arrangements.

* * *

"You're going to live with _SNAPE_?" Ron was aghast.

"Shh!" Lyra told him to keep it down. The whole common room was staring at them.

"Have you completely lost your mind?"

Hermione was more supportive. "Well, I'm happy for you, Lyra. And I bet you'll get tons of Potions practice!"

At this Ron looked even more exasperated, and left muttering about 'greasy old gits'.

* * *

Saturday morning dawned bright and warm. Lyra was currently flying over the Quidditch Pitch looking for the elusive Golden Snitch. She thought she had spotted it once over by the Gryffindor goal posts, but it had turned out to be a reflection of someone's watch. She had been searching for over an hour, and Gryffindor was losing terribly. It didn't matter anymore if she caught it or not; they would still lose. A few minutes later the Ravenclaw seeker, Cho Chang, caught it.

The Gryffindors trudged back towards the castle. Wood looked about ready to start crying, so Lyra quickly made her way over to Ron and Hermione.

"Hey Lyra, sorry about the match. We were just about to go visit Harry."

"Oh, is he awake then?" she asked.

"Madam Pomfrey said he woke up this morning, but she said he needed rest. We're hoping she'll let us in now."

When they got to the Hospital Wing, Lyra asked the other two if she could talk to Harry alone for a moment. They looked confused and she felt bad, but she needed to ask him not to tell them that she was Voldemort's daughter.

When Madam Pomfrey finally let her in, Lyra cautiously walked over to Harry.

He was sitting up, and looking much better than Lyra had last saw him.

"Lyra," he smiled.

"Harry," she said, taking a deep breath. "I-I don't really know what to say... I just want you to know that I-well, I would understand if you don't want to be my friend anymore, but-"

Harry looked confused at first, and then alarmed. "I don't hold it against you, Lyra! You can't help who your father is."

Lyra breathed a sigh of relief. "Really? You don't care?"

"Of course not!" Harry said. "Besides, I'd probably be dead if it weren't for you!"

Lyra leaned down and gave him a hug. "Thank you," she whispered to him.

"Will you keep it a secret?" she asked.

"If that's what you'd prefer," Harry said.

Lyra called Ron and Hermione in.

"Harry!"

Hermione looked about ready to fling her arms around him.

"Oh, Harry, we were sure you were going to - Dumbledore was so worried -"

"The whole school's talking about it," said Ron. "What really happened?"

It was one of those rare occasions when the true story is even more strange and exciting than the wild rumors. Harry told them almost everything with Lyra commenting now and then: Quirrell; the mirror; the Stone; and Voldemort. Lyra was grateful that Harry stayed to his word and kept her secret.

"So the Stone's gone?" said Ron finally. "Flamel's just going to die?"

"That's what I said, but Dumbledore thinks that - what was it? - 'to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.'"

"I always said he was off his rocker," said Ron, looking quite impressed at how crazy his hero was.

"So what happened to you three?" said Harry.

"Dumbledore burst in right as you lost consciousness. Then Quirrell seemed to...I can't even describe it...he turned to ashes. Then Dumbledore led me back out the trapdoor," Lyra told him.

"Well, I got back all right," said Hermione. "I brought Ron round - that took a while - and we were dashing up to the owlery to contact Dumbledore when we met him in the entrance hall - he already knew - he just said, 'Harry's gone after him, hasn't he?' and hurtled off to the third floor."

"D'you think he meant you to do it?" said Ron. "Sending you your father's cloak and everything?"

"Well," Hermione exploded, "if he did - I mean to say that's terrible - you could have been killed."

"No, it isn't," said Harry thoughtfully. "He's a funny man, Dumbledore. I think he sort of wanted to give me a chance. I think he knows more or less everything that goes on here, you know. I reckon he had a pretty good idea we were going to try, and instead of stopping us, he just taught us enough to help. I don't think it was an accident he let me find out how the mirror worked. It's almost like he thought I had the right to face Voldemort if I could..."

"Yeah, Dumbledore's off his rocker, all right," said Ron proudly.

"Listen, you've got to be up for the end-of-year feast tomorrow. The points are all in and Slytherin won, of course - you missed the last Quidditch match, we were steamrollered by Ravenclaw without you - but the food'll be good."

At that moment, Madam Pompfrey bustled over.

"You've had nearly fifteen minutes, now OUT" she said firmly.

* * *

Lyra decided to pack up her things before the feast started. She wanted to get it out of the way. As she was throwing things into her trunk, she came across the photo album she had gotten from her father for Christmas.

"Evil git," she muttered before dumping it in the trash bin. A few seconds later she took the album back out, removed her baby picture and stashed it in her trunk, and threw the album back into the trash.

* * *

"Yes, Yes, well done, Slytherin," said Dumbledore after he announced the current House Point total at the feast. "However, recent events must be taken into account."

The room went very still. The Slytherins' smiles faded a little.

"Ahem," said Dumbledore. "I have a few last-minute points to dish out. Let me see. Yes..."

"First - to Mr. Ronald Weasley..."

Ron went purple in the face; he looked like a radish with a bad sunburn.

"...for the best-played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor house thirty points."

Gryffindor cheers nearly raised the bewitched ceiling; the stars overhead seemed to quiver. Percy could be heard telling the other prefects, "My brother, you know! My youngest brother! Got past McGonagall's giant chess set!"

At last there was silence again.

"Second - to Miss Hermione Granger... for the use of cool logic in the face of fire, I award Gryffindor house thirty points."

Hermione buried her face in her arms; Harry strongly suspected she had burst into tears. Gryffindors up and down the table were beside themselves - they were a hundred points up.

"Third - to Miss Lyra Black...for excellent defensive spellwork and outstanding loyalty towards her friends, I award Gryffindor forty points."

The cheers were deafening. Lyra was shocked as Gryffindors all around her got up to shake her hand and congratulate her.

"Fourth - to Mr. Harry Potter..." said Dumbledore. "...for pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor house sixty points."

The din was deafening. Those who could add up while yelling themselves hoarse knew that Gryffindor now had four hundred and seventy-two points - exactly the same as Slytherin. They had tied for the house cup - if only Dumbledore had given Harry just one more point...

Dumbledore raised his hand. The room gradually fell silent.

"There are all kinds of courage," said Dumbledore, smiling. "It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. I therefore award ten points to Mr. Neville Longbottom."

Someone standing outside the Great Hall might well have thought some sort of explosion had taken place, so loud was the noise that erupted from the Gryffindor table. Neville, white with shock, disappeared under a pile of people hugging him. He had never won so much as a point for Gryffindor before.

"Which means," Dumbledore called over the storm of applause, for even Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were celebrating the downfall of Slytherin, "we need a little change of decoration."

He clapped his hands. In an instant, the green hangings became scarlet and the silver became gold; the huge Slytherin serpent vanished and a towering Gryffindor lion took its place. Snape was shaking Professor McGonagall's hand, with a horrible, forced smile. He caught Lyra's eye and nodded. Lyra smiled triumphantly back.

It seemed as though life would be back to normal next year, or as normal as it ever was at Hogwarts.

* * *

With everything that went on, Lyra had almost forgotten that exam results were still coming, but she was pleasantly surprised when she got the second best scores out of all the first years. Only Hermione surpassed her.

* * *

The next morning, everyone went into a last minute packing frenzy. Lyra was glad that she had packed the night before. She was waiting in the common room for Hermione to come down so they could walk to the Hogwart's Express together.

"Lyra," Hermione called. "You forgot something!"

'That's weird,' Lyra thought. She remembered double-checking her dormitory that morning to make sure she didn't forget anything.

She returned to the dormitory, and saw a folded up piece of parchment lying on her pillow. She crossed the room, and carefully unfolded the note. On it, written in a horribly familiar, elegant script, were thirteen words that sent a chill down Lyra's spine.

_You will join me, my dear. It is only a matter of time. _

* * *

**Author's Note: And that's the last chapter for The Brightest Star. If you think I should continue with a second year, let me know in the reviews :)**

**Update: I posted the first chapter to this story's sequel, "A Darker Constellation". Thanks for reviewing!**


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